Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

School Related Copyright

If I were to post material from one of my classes on the internet without the consent of the school, would that be illegal?

Information such as past course material, exams, notes.

If so, is there any way to get around it?

Most of the material only has the name of the school on it and no explicit copyright disclaimers or things of such nature in them.


Asked on 11/17/08, 6:59 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

David K. Staub Staub Anderson LLC

Re: School Related Copyright

When someone creates a "work", the copyright is automatic. No copyright notice is required.

Without seeing the material in question, it is not possible to say for certain that the material is of a nature that a copyright exists, but it is very likely. There is a possibility that some of the material is in the public domain or does not have a sufficiently creative element to in.

If the material is copyrighted, then the only way "to get around it" is to get a license from the copyright owner.

David K. Staub, business attorney

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Answered on 11/17/08, 7:07 pm
Motty Stone Law Offices of Motty Stone

Re: School Related Copyright

There are other ways for you get around the copyright through "fair use." The most likely methods would be if you were posting some specific excerpts from exams or school materials for the purpose of "criticism." Either to give your opinion about the works themselves or to give advise on how to deal with them. The second method that might work is if you were putting up the materials for the purpose of "satire" for example making jokes about how silly the teacher's word problems are. If you are just posting a database of materials, there is a chance you could be infringing.

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Answered on 11/17/08, 9:56 pm


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