Course Hero’s Copyright Infringement Form
How to get these fuckin’ platforms to take down your IP
Platforms like Course Hero can be considered a public nuisance because they facilitate the unauthorized distribution of intellectual property (IP) that belongs to instructors and educational institutions. Here’s a link to Course Hero’s copyright infringement form:
https://www.learneo.com/legal/illegal-content-notice#/copyright-infringement
Faculty can search for their content by your name or course number (that seems to work ok). It can sometimes be hard to clearly identify what IP is being infringed upon, since Course Hero blurs out a lot of the content. One actually has to pay the platform a subscription fee to get a clear view of the infringed copyright, which is stupid and absurd for instructors trying to identify their exact IP that has been uploaded to the platform without their permission.
For example, here is how one of my uploaded blog posts renders on Course Hero:
Here are some key reasons why these platforms are problematic — in my view, every university at which the IP rights of courseware belong to their instructors should sue Course Hero for gross and malignant copyright infringement:
Intellectual Property Infringement:
- Ownership of Courseware: At many universities, faculty members own the IP rights to the materials they create, such as lecture notes, quizzes, exams, and other course content. When students upload these materials to platforms like Course Hero without permission, they are infringing on the instructors’ IP rights.
- Facilitation by Platforms: By allowing and hosting such uploads, platforms like Course Hero enable and perpetuate this infringement, effectively becoming a party to the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials.
Undermining Academic Integrity:
- Compromising Educational Objectives: When students have access to course materials, including quiz questions and answers, they may use them to gain unfair advantages in their courses. This undermines the integrity of the educational process and the objectives of fair assessment.
- Cheating and Plagiarism: Easy access to solutions and course content can lead to increased instances of cheating and plagiarism, which devalues the academic achievements of honest students and diminishes the overall quality of education.
Legal and Ethical Concerns:
- Copyright Law Violations: Uploading and sharing copyrighted materials without permission is a clear violation of copyright laws. Platforms that allow such activities may be subject to legal actions from the copyright holders.
- Ethical Implications: Beyond legal considerations, there are ethical implications related to respecting the work and intellectual contributions of educators. Unauthorized sharing of course materials disregards the effort and creativity of faculty members.
Financial Impact:
- Loss of Revenue: Instructors and educational institutions may lose potential revenue from the sale of textbooks, course packs, and other educational materials due to unauthorized sharing.
- Increased Costs: Institutions may incur additional costs in monitoring and combating the unauthorized distribution of course materials and in developing new content to replace compromised materials.
Degradation of Course Quality:
- Diminished Learning Experience: When course content is widely available outside the intended educational context, it can reduce the quality of the learning experience. Students might rely on these materials instead of engaging fully with the course, thereby missing out on the intended pedagogical benefits.
- Need for Constant Updates: Faculty may need to frequently update their course materials to stay ahead of unauthorized distribution, which can be time-consuming and detract from other academic responsibilities.
By understanding these issues, educational institutions, instructors, and policymakers can better address the challenges posed by platforms like Course Hero and work towards solutions that protect intellectual property rights and maintain the integrity of the educational process.
