Legal Question in Technology Law in Texas

My roommate first semester of college has these notes written to him by a girl telling him what to do, when to do it, etc. They're pretty funny because she pretty much ran his life for the entire semester. Before I moved in with a new roommate, I took the notes from him without him knowing. A few days ago I posted them on Facebook. The girl's dad is a lawyer and she says that she can take some sort of legal action against me. I don't think she can because they aren't her notes.

What I'm asking is: can she actually do anything about it, or is the only person who can my ex-roommate?


Asked on 8/16/09, 2:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

Why would you do that? Your seemingly innocuous actions could have some serious repercussions, especially because her dad is a lawyer. I'm an intellectual property lawyer, so I will limit my response to what I do best. What you have done is copyright infringement because you published and reproduced a copyrighted work without permission from its author. The fact that she gave away the notes to your friend does not exhaust her intellectual property rights to reproduction and publication of the work. Because you have not commercialized on the work, and because it is highly unlikely that the works are registered with the copyright office, the remedy against you may be limited to injunction and costs and attorneys fees. If they really want to get nasty, they can register the works with the copyright office before filing suit against you and then sue you for statutory damages. They may also have your Facebook account terminated for violating the Terms of Use which (I'm guessing) prohibit copyright infringement.

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Answered on 8/16/09, 3:18 pm


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