So a friend offers to copy an important section of a reference guide for you, good or bad? Even in so "thrift-conscious" an industry, copyright laws cannot be ignored. Without discovering a new way of communicating with team members or creating a totally new way of tracking compliance, how do you use information that others have compiled and made available to us?
Copyright is a form of protection granted for original works of authorship covering both published and unpublished works. Work is protected the moment it is set into a tangible form; printed, posted, handwritten. This protection lasts for the life of the author and 70 years beyond.
Spending the money for reference materials affords practices an opportunity to have necessary reference materials and benchmarks readily available. When seen as an investment, the urge to “just borrow” material is lessened.
With so much information available on the internet, it can become easy to forget the laws. The most straight forward interpretation is that the person who created the work has the right to it. You can’t take credit for their work or tout it as yours. Copyright laws remain in force for online information.
With reference to electronic media, based partly on a phone conversation with Mark Stevenson of Lifelearn, electronic media continues to grow more commonplace in our home and work environments, and laws are revised to provide authors sufficient protection for their copyright. Some ebooks may allow a degree of sharing, 1-2 times for example. It’s in our culture to share…we’re all nice people right? But there will always be people who abuse copyright laws.
As seen with the music industry, the law eventually catches up, and an example is made of some people. Respecting copyright ownership allows content producers to make a decent return and continue to provide useful resources for us all. Veterinary education companies have evolved from books, to DVD’s, to online sources. Their business model evolves based on the expected use of their products. For example, a DVD on Client Communication is priced based on the premise that one hospital will use the DVD at their one location only, and won’t loan it out to 10 other hospitals. This is one reason why the online model for team training is better for them, and in many ways this may provide more value to their users.
What about all the things you learn while reading other people’s work or attending classes. Is it now “your” knowledge? Many of us share our knowledge with others, through teaching, speaking, and consultant channels. The best avenue for sharing commonly available information is that you can share a quote or part of an article, but you cannot print full sections of another’s work. And remember that even though you have learned the information or concepts, you must give credit where credit is due.