copyright problem

lending to friend

[vish]

students attending my course give the course material to their friends for reference.is it an infringement? what if the friends copied them later?

[stapel]

What kind of "course material"? Why would they give it to others? How formally is it presented? Do you have any "Do Not Reproduce" notation on it? How is it "given" away?

Eliz.

[BigDave]

In the United states, it is not copyright infringement to loan out your copy of a work. That specific copy is personal property and is treated as such.

If they were to copy the borrowed work for personal scholarly research, then it is still possible that it is legal, but it is much more of a gray area of the law. Distributing that copy to anyone else is a different matter. It also depends how much of the work was copied.

[vish]

Thank you very much for replying.Mine is a interview skill course for eng students.they tend to lend/give the course materials to their friends soon they get the job.i have not marked anything regarding copyright.

[incrediBILL]

if they give it away that's not the same as copyright infringement unless you mark the materials, and I'm no lawyer - "propietary information disclosed solely for personal use with this course only, non-transferrable, non-discloseable, blah blah".

.. don't know what students would say if you made them sign a license agreement for your class materials :)

[VegasRook]

If you want to keep your students from doing this, have them sign a NDA in regards to the materials or whatever else you need them to keep quiet about.

A bit excessive I think for a class. If they give a copy of their copy to a friend, it could be considered a copyright violation--much like a copy of music, books, etc.

For further assistance, seek an IP (intellectual property) lawyer.

[vish]

thanks a lot