Warning: A Copyright Policy Isn’t Enough!

Does a climate of compliance on a campus make it any less vulnerable to a lawsuit? The publishers apparently don’t think so.

Colleges and universities without clear policies on acceptable uses of copyrighted materials have always felt more likely to be targets for copyright infringement lawsuits than their peer institutions with policies. However, in view of the Cornell outcome, good intentions of schools with posted policies will no longer deflect the scrutiny of book publishers determined to change higher educations’ behaviors toward the protection of intellectual property in the online realm.