Copyright complaints at universities tend to center on student file-sharing of films and music — but a recent case has brought attention to abuses in academic contexts.

Three publishers recently filed a lawsuit in Atlanta District Court against Georgia State University (GSU), alleging “pervasive, flagrant and ongoing” violations relating to online uploads of material for students. Professors are accused of intentionally violating copyright to provide the material more cheaply to students.

At Stanford, professors also make heavy use of Coursework, the campus’ online class resource, and course readers to distribute copyrighted material. Lauren Schoenthaler, staff counsel in the Office of the General Counsel, explained via email the measures in place on Coursework to prevent copyright infringement.

“Coursework has functionality built into the software to consider copyright issues before uploading content,” Schoenthaler said. “The course administrators should only be uploading to the site if use of the content is within the fair use doctrine of copyright law, or if permission has been obtained. Permission is often obtained through paying a royalty and securing a limited license. Coursework has an embedded link to the Copyright Clearance Center, a permissions clearinghouse, to request permission when appropriate.”

“In theory, when you are looking at material on Coursework, it has been vetted,” she added.

Schoenthaler explained that this policy fit with a commitment from the Provost’s office to ensuring copyright compliance.

“The Provost issues an annual Copyright Reminder each year, which provides an overview of copyright law and asks that all members of the Stanford community respect copyright law,” Schoenthaler said.

Schoenthaler emphasized that efforts are ongoing to make use of already-existing copyright permissions through University libraries, as integration can reduce costs for courses and provide more access to material.

“Stanford University Libraries has paid for more than 10,000 licenses to digitized content, and Coursework supports directly linking to content through SUL,” she said.

Schoenthaler added that steps are in place to prevent a similar incident to the one at GSU.

“Stanford’s Copyright Reminder provides that if permission is needed to include content in a print coursepack, then it’s likely that a license is needed to include that content in an electronic version of the coursepack,” Schoenthaler said.

Violations similar to the ones at GSU have not been a problem at Stanford.

“There are no flagrant violations of copyright law that I have been made aware of,” Schoenthaler said. “In the instances that have been brought to my attention so far, education has resolved the issues.”

Such violations would result in significant consequences.

“Were such a case to arise, it is a violation of both University policy and the law to engage in such conduct,” Schoenthaler said. “An intentional violation of law could result in employment action up to and including termination.”

The economics behind rising fees for copyrighted material, which contributes to the environment that leads to copyright infringement, are largely beyond campus control.

“They’re entirely a function of the publisher, and the price they set for intellectual property,” said Ken Bowers, director of stores at the Stanford Bookstore. “Publishers are the gatekeepers for those fees.”

“It’s one of those ongoing things that is like the price of textbooks in general,” he added. “It’s one of those same issues.”

Negotiations over costs and copyright often occur outside of the view of students.

“There’s a value perception issue there,” Bowers said. “It’s often difficult to understand on the part of a student.”