Professor Claims Students Taking Notes Infringe on His Copyright

[OSUsushichic]

I just looked at the MIT courseware site, Sushi, and the content for marketing courses does not include detailed lecture notes. The various course files typically course outlines and reading lists and the content is dated from 2002-2004. Occasionally, there is a file containing four or five slides from a PowerPoint file for a lecture.

So, at least in the five courses I examined, the content on OCW is nothing like what the professor or his publisher is filing suit over. Also, in a fast-moving domain such as marketing, the content doesn't really reveal much about what is actually being learned in MIT Sloan classes.

The content on OCW varies. It's up to the professor as to what they want to post. Many do post their lecture notes (PowerPoint slides are oftentimes not posted because they contain copyrighted images). Some even post video lectures. The idea is to offer at least a snippet of the class, meaning that it could be from 5 years ago or last semester. They don't post materials from each semester. They will rotate in fresh materials when they can. They've had a surprisingly high participation rate from faculty -- over 90%, I believe. I know some professors (*cough* Manfred *cough*) who would be uncomfortable posting their syllabi and other materials because they don't want others stealing it. I don't really understand this. If you teach an awesome class on a subject, why not allow others to see what you're teaching and pass along that information? I'm indirectly taking a class from a professor at UCLA. I have a copy of her syllabus (she doesn't know this) and now I'm doing the readings on my own. I think that's the whole purpose of OCW. Some educators are cool with sharing, and some not so much.

 

[martinss01]

*.*

initially i completely agreed with your statement. but the more i think about it the more doubts i have. im not a legal expert in anyway and could be 100% wrong. however, im thinking its really going to depend on what format the information is in. if this is a tape of a lecture or a photo copy of a document the teacher created or word for word notes. then yes, this is an open and shut case.

however, if these are notes created by a student i think we have the makings of an interesting debate. much like the professors curriculum is based on knowledge gained from others. wouldn't such notes be the students own creation based on knowledge gained a classroom? thereby the company would be passing on the intellectual property of the student (which they purchased) and not the professors.

thoughts?

 

[ScarletBlood31]

We want to sue them back to the stone age.

 

[Jake]

Every professor should be required to spend a few years working in the real world before getting tenure. Some of these well-educated people have been in academia their entire lives and have no idea how idiotic they sound at times to the rest of us.