Thursday, May 7, 1998
Company caught taking notes in class
ACADEMICS: UCLA says service disturbs lectures, violates
copyright laws
By Brian Fishman
Daily Bruin Contributor
Good notes are golden if you don’t want to go to class.
Previously, you had to either bum off a friend or buy ASUCLA
notes. But now a new company is trying to break into the lucrative
lecture note market by selling notes for classes ASUCLA does not
cover.
But the Research and Report Corporations’ experiment at UCLA has
angered administrators and professors.
Claiming that R&R Services violates campus trespassing
policies and professors’ rights to intellectual property,
administrators and professors have united to force the R&R
Corporation to stop collecting and selling lecture notes without
permission.
Administrators have even resorted to physically removing
representatives of the Research and Report Corporation from
university classes to keep them from recording and distributing
flyers.
Professors in at least four classes have reported pamphlets and
trial notes being distributed in their classes by representatives
of R&R. Administrators are upset about the use of classrooms as
areas to peddle goods.
"To be solicited while in a classroom crosses the line," said
John Sandbrook, assistant provost.
Sandbrook spoke with Jack White, an executive with R&R in an
effort to alleviate the problem.
"I explained that without the professors’ approval he is
violating campus policy," Sandbrook said.
Sandbrook informed the university’s lawyer about the situation,
but no legal action is pending.
The R&R Corporation, which claims to be operating at several
other UCs, did not return calls.
Professors have also expressed concern that outsiders in
classrooms could be disruptive. These concerns were validated when
a representative of R&R asked teaching assistants to pass out
R&R literature in class. The TAs declined their requests.
Sandbrook, who has spoken with the UCPD about the note-taking
scheme, claimed that R&R representatives are trespassing. He
personally removed an R&R representative from a class earlier
this year. The expelled woman was advised of university copyright
and anti-trespassing policy.
"Having someone in class recording, transcribing and then
selling them is not in accordance with those policies. I advised
the woman making the recording she should not come back," Sandbrook
said.
Ronald Rogowski, a professor for Political Science 50, a course
targeted by R&R, was less concerned with trespassing than the
protection of intellectual property.
Rogowski worried that if a company is reselling his lectures, he
will not have control over how they are used by other parties.
Rogowski claimed that a series of lectures could be turned into a
textbook.
"People have stolen a series of lectures and published them as
their own," Rogowski said.
Students have not been convinced that they should be denied this
option.
"I kinda think they’re just whining. I don’t think that people
will use the notes for anything but studying," said Stephanie
Cantor, a student in Political Science 50.
Students in Rogowski’s class wondered why ASUCLA lecture notes
are condoned and R&R’s are not.
The answer is twofold, claimed Sandbrook.
"First, ASUCLA does notes only with permission of the
instructor. The second issue is quality control," Sandbrook
claimed.
None of the professors in any of the affected classes were in
favor of lecture notes from R&R or ASUCLA, according to
Sandbrook.
Rogowski added that ASUCLA allows professors to copyright and
review their notes, while R&R does not.
This may not be a commanding argument, however, since R&R
claims that lectures are not copyrightable material.
"Any given lecture is considered to be an impromptu speech. With
respect to U.S. copyright law, an impromptu speech is not copyright
material of the speaker at presentation," stated a disclaimer
included with R&R notes.
Administrators denied the impromptu nature of lectures, claiming
they are scheduled on a regular basis.
"An organized lecture is tangible and is copyrightable,"
Sandbrook said.