Ilaw: Questions

Questions

Professor's Copyright on Lecture

Over in the news section I posted this story:

A Professor at the Univesity of Florida is claiming a copyright in his class lectures, and, as a result, students' notes from his class, as they are, he claims, derivative works. He's going after people who commercialize students notes, which Corey Doctorow seems to think is ethically murky. I say fair use, but then again, my notes usually contain snarky comments about the cases, making them more transformative than most students'. Snitty 17:15, 4 April 2008 (EDT)

This raises a couple of disturbing issues. First, do professors actually have a copyright in their lectures? Second, if they do, do their student's notes constitute copyright infringement, or fair use? If they do constitute fair use, are we to actually believe that merely changing the use from personal to commercial defeats that fair use?

The initial oral lecture, unless it is recorded, is not in a fixed medium. So, does the professor only have a copyright in it if he or she records it? What if the professor has notes from which he or she delivers the lecture, but the lecture itself isn't recorded? Would it be sufficient if the professor authored a textbook, and uses that textbook in the class?

That's a lot of question marks. Any thoughts?