In: Operations Management
The campus club, 'Don't Do Drugs!', is launching a public awareness campaign alerting university students to the danger of using illegal drugs. William, the club chairman, recently bought a book at Borders called Drugs the Destroyer (price paid $25). John McBride is the author of the book. William wants to distribute 1,000 copies of the book as part of the public awareness campaign but the club doesn't have enough money to buy them.Instead, William scans the book onto his computer and burns 1,000 CD's of the book. The club freely distributes all of the CD's to students on campus. John McBride sues William for copyright infringement. Which of the following is true?
A.William is liable for copyright infringement.
B. If William had included a notice on the CD’s that the copyright in the material belongs to John McBride, then William is not liable for copyright infringement.
C.Because William properly purchased the book before he made the CD's, he is not liable for copyright infringement under the First Sale Doctrine.
D.Because William distributed the CD's for a good cause, he is not liable for copyright infringement.
E.If William is ignorant of the law of copyright, he can not be held liable for infringement.
Copyright infringement is the act of using someone else's work without getting that person's permission.
The power to decide who can legally make copies of that work, lies with the owner of the copyright
Even if one gives credit to the original author for the work, it is illegal to copy large sections of someone's copyrighted work without their permission.
William, from the except is hence liable for copyright infringement.
Even if William includes a notice on the CDs about the copyright in the material belonging to John McBride, he is still liable for copyright infringement because that act doesnot involve the approval of the author John McBride. Hence option B is wrong.
William purchasing the book by paying the right amount is a legal act, but using that as an excuse to make and distribute CDs for good/bad cause, is not legal, and it still comes under copyright infringement. Hence, options C and D are wrong.
Option E points out that ignorance of the law leads to William not being liable for infringement. This statement is wrong as William's ignorance cannot be treated as an excuse to him not being held liable.
The correct answer is hence Option A.