From: David Schizer 
Reply-To: Harry Kavros 
To: law-j07@cuvmc.ais.columbia.edu, law-j06@cuvmc.ais.columbia.edu, law-j05@cuvmc.ais.columbia.edu, law-llm05@cuvmc.ais.columbia.edu
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 13:47:42 -0500
Subject: Reminder about file-sharing

Dear Students,

President Lee Bollinger has requested that I send you this message as a
reminder that unauthorized peer to peer file sharing violates university
rules and may expose students to legal liabilities.  This message also
serves as a reminder of some of the information you received during your
orientation program.

Intellectual honesty is the foundation of our academic lives.  Original
thought and proper credit for others' work is central to learning and
teaching.  Like Plagiarism, violation of copyright is a serious breach of
the commitment to intellectual integrity that you made when you came to
Columbia Law School.

You each should have received a letter over the summer from the Provost and
General counsel alerting you to your responsibilities under copyright law
when using Columbia's computer systems and network.  As indicated in that
letter, the use of peer-to-peer file-sharing programs such as Kazaa and
Morpheus to make and share copies of copyrighted music and movies is a
violation of copyright law and university policy.  Such violations are a
matter of student conduct and may be dealt with as a disciplinary matter
under the Law School's Procedures for Student Discipline.

Over the past academic year, the university has received hundreds of
verified allegations of the illegal possession and distribution of
copyrighted materials over the Columbia network.  Before you install Kazaa
or any other file-sharing software, here are some facts from the
university's lawyers and from Academic Information Systems about copyright
law in general and peer-to-peer file sharing in particular:

COPYRIGHT LAW

  Copyright protection covers any original work of authorship that is
  fixed in some tangible medium of expression.
  A work is protected from the moment is created.
  A work does not have to contain a copyright notice to quality for
  protection.
  Virtually any work you find whether software, music, videos or e-mail;
  whether ion the internet, a CD, DVD, or tape, is almost certainly
  protected by copyright.
  While there are exceptions under the law that allow copying or
  distribution or copyrighted work, the use of file-sharing software to
  share copyrighted music and movies, without permission, would virtually
  never qualify for an exception.

PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING

  Copyright owners scan our network every day for unlawful use of their
  tools
  The university can take action upon receiving a complaint
  You can be held legally liable if you have downloaded music, movies or
  any other files without permission from the copyright owner.
  Students here and at other universities have been sued and forced to pay
  damages.
  The Recording Industry Association of America has filed hundreds of
  lawsuits against individual college students based on its scans of
  university networks, and promises to increase its enforcement actions.
  The Motion Picture Association of America has announced that it will
  follow suit with its own lawsuits against students.

Please see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/policy/copyright-info.html for more
on copyright and the university's compliance with the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act.  See http://www.columbia.edu/cu/policy for complete
information on the university's Computer and Network Use Policy.

Whether a citizen, resident, or visitor in the United States, you are
personally responsible for abiding by the law.  As a member of the
university community, you are equally responsible for adhering to the
university's policies for the network and the use of other on-line and
computing resources, including respect for copyright.

If you have any further questions, consult page 99 of your Student Handbook
or contact Dean Kavros at Harry.Kavros@law.columbia.edu