by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - December 22, 2009 - c. Copyright Infringement On The Internet
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has held that the copying of teacher answer guides that are not protected by copyright registration is a derivative of the copyright protected textbook. The right to make derivative works is one of the many copyright rights protected by the Copyright Act. This holding means that it is a derivative work, and thus copyright infringement, to create a work that is associated with a copyright protected work where the associated work is meaningless without the copyright protected work.
Additionally, this case also holds that the Plaintiff was entitled to statutory damages. The Defendant argued that the Plaintiff was not entitled to statutory damages because the Plaintiff did not have a registered copyright for the answers, but only for the textbook. The court found that because the answers were a derivative work of the copyrighted textbook, the Plaintiff was entitled to statutory damages.
If you believe that someone has infringed upon your copyright rights, or if you have been accused of copyright infringement, contact one of our expert copyright infringement lawyers today at 866.936.7447.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
