StudyNotesWiki

MMarion wrote:
LISTEN UP PEOPLE!!

I started this thread with 2 simple points raised!
1. Who does the material belong to? (a simple enough question)
2. That I had no intention of violating any copyright laws (also simple to understand)

WHY ARE PEOPLE BEING WARNED ABOUT OBEYING COPYRIGHT RULES, AND TO TAKE NOTE OF THE WARNING ON THIS SITE??

WHO HAS MENTIONED ON THIS THREAD THAT THEY INTEND TO DO SO?? UNLESS I HAVE MISSED SOMETHING I DO NOT COME ACROSS ANYONE MAKING SUCH A STATEMENT!

WE ARE LAW STUDENTS - WE ARE ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS AND TO SEEK CLARITY!

So please let it lie now! We are not stupid. Just because an issue is raised does not mean that any rules, laws, regulations and what not is going to be violated.

I responded to this:

I did buy the notes and Q&A packs and would certainly love to pass them on when I am done.
I have also benefitted from such notes and summaries uploaded on this site.

by saying Please not on this site.

There really is no need to get so worked up.

Hi MM

I think the reason that there is such sensitivity around the issue is because we have had a couple of occassions in the past where 3rd party vendors hit us complaining like mad that we had their copyrighted material on the site. (You may not have joined us then, or even came across the posts). Dirk, Shaz, Pikkie, Lawman & i were getting bombarded with emails etc etc etc

The site is growing continuously - and we still do sometimes get people (especially those who are not aware of the copyright issues) who upload 3rd party material. It is no fault of theirs and they are not trying to cause any problems for anyone - they genuinely do not know there is a legal issue (not to mention the hassle we all go through). It is a hassle we try to avoid for obvious reasons - exam prep takes up too much time for one thing.

Consequently a reminder/request not to upload 3rd paty copyrigght material is not out of place.

No-one least of all me, is in any wasy stating that questions cant be asked - in fact that is how all of us learn (and continue to learn). It is also one of the main reasons for this site.

I hope this solves your concern - because definitely no ''digs'' or otherwise was intended at anyone. I just jumped at the opportunity to reiterate that 3rd party copyright material is not permitted to be uploaded.

Cheers

Amanda

Hi Guys

So I am giving my 2cents worth here...

I am all for respecting what the moderators and creators of this site is saying that we should not upload notes bought from vendors, etc. and I for one definitely would not want to push the issue here for the fear or this site getting shut down (then we are all *&%&!!)....

I just need some clarification with regards to copyright issues.... If one buys the notes from a vendor and were to pass them on to another student without gaining a financial benefit thereof, then how is that infringing any copyright when you are not claiming that it is by any means your work, you are merely passing them on as the institution's notes as their name is on the footnote/headnote of each page and they get all credit that is due to them... As far as I know you are not taking credit for somebody else's work when you are fully acknowledging that it is the work of such mentioned institution??

Are these places not just kicking up a stink cos by passing on their notes (and not stating that it is our own personal notes ??) they are losing out financially as less students are therefore buying from them?????????

To the moderator: Please feel free to remove my post if it in any way puts somebody in a bad light... Just asking for interests sake?

Hi Chantelle

No need to remove your post at all - it is a perfectly fair question.

By the way we only remove posts when absolutely necessary - and we do not like having to do it either I can assure you.

If you purchase copyright material and then give it away - you are not infinging any copyright laws. However, if you put such copyright material open and available for the public then you are - such as when uploading it onto a website - only the copyright holder has the right to do that.

Hope this helps

Amanda

Love the irony

This post is about buying notes about Copyright infringement and then posting questions related thereto.

By the way, in response to one of the posts above, one of the issues related to copyright is originality. You can have copyright on an item which is similar to another even copied from another - check the study guide its all there.

Hey Marion

I personally think you asked an interesting question. How can the vendor sell something as copyrighted if they just copied another copyrighted piece of work......especially when they copy it word for word. I have bought a few of the question packs from these vendors and found they helped me a lot.

But now I am going to ask a really dumb question, and if it has been answered before I apologise, but I am a little fuzzy on this. If this site has such strict rules on posting copyrighted material (which is a good thing), how come we can post unisa material. Is it also not copyrighted??

Bones wrote:
Hey Marion

I personally think you asked an interesting question. How can the vendor sell something as copyrighted if they just copied another copyrighted piece of work......especially when they copy it word for word. I have bought a few of the question packs from these vendors and found they helped me a lot.

But now I am going to ask a really dumb question, and if it has been answered before I apologise, but I am a little fuzzy on this. If this site has such strict rules on posting copyrighted material (which is a good thing), how come we can post unisa material. Is it also not copyrighted??

I remember reading somewhere on this site at the time I raised the issue of notes belonging to UNISA freely available on this site that UNISA seems to turn a blind eye.
So, break the 'law' is ok as long as nobody is looking!

Answers as follows:-

Is Unisa material copyright = yes it is

Does Unisa know we have it on our site = yes they do

Have they moaned before = yes they have

Thanks to Dirks unlimited patience with them - not least some points of law that he engaged them on - Unisa and SNW reached a slightly precarious arrangement whereby we had the Unisa material and they agreed to stop moaning.

However - for 3rd party vendors - we will not condone the uploading of any 3rd party material and will remove it when we become aware.

Hope this now finally puts the issue to bed.

Cheers

Amanda

My I suggest that the moderators put up Amanda's comments high and in flashing lights and make it pre-requisite reading for all visitors. This issue crops up all the time and gets the same responses.

MMarion wrote:
Bones wrote:
Hey Marion

I personally think you asked an interesting question. How can the vendor sell something as copyrighted if they just copied another copyrighted piece of work......especially when they copy it word for word. I have bought a few of the question packs from these vendors and found they helped me a lot.

But now I am going to ask a really dumb question, and if it has been answered before I apologise, but I am a little fuzzy on this. If this site has such strict rules on posting copyrighted material (which is a good thing), how come we can post unisa material. Is it also not copyrighted??

I remember reading somewhere on this site at the time I raised the issue of notes belonging to UNISA freely available on this site that UNISA seems to turn a blind eye.
So, break the 'law' is ok as long as nobody is looking!