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Don't Take Notes In the Bookstore

Posted by kdawson on from the and-no-umpcs-either dept.

mikesd81 writes "The Harvard Crimson reports that the Harvard Coop asked Jarret A. Zafran to leave the store after writing down the prices of six books required for a junior Social Studies tutorial. The apparent new policy could be a response to Crimsonreading.org, an online database that allows students to find the books they need for each course at discounted prices from several online booksellers. The Coop claims the ISBN identification numbers in books are their intellectual property. Crimson Reading disagrees. 'We don't think the Coop owns copyright on this information that should be available to students,' said Tom D. Hadfield, co-creator of the site. The student paper reports that an unnamed intellectual property lawyer agreed with Crimson Reading's position."

6 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. at least... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    well, at least he wasn't tasered.

    1. Re:at least... by mlk · · Score: 4, Funny

      You tasered your daughter when she was teething?! Did it work, my god I want a nights sleep.

      --
      Wow, I should not post when knackered.
    2. Re:at least... by Convector · · Score: 4, Funny

      Had he dunked his face into a deep fat fryer for comparison?

  2. Re:ISBN's owned by no one by bigdavex · · Score: 5, Funny

    That number is never truly OWNED as it is recirculated once the book goes out of print; many books have the same ISBN but only one in print book at a time can use it.

    This is why we need ISBNv6.
    --
    -Dave
  3. Re:Wrong IP by Ajehals · · Score: 5, Funny

    Store Clerk: Shall I price this up at $1.99?
    Store Manager: $1.99 good idea, but all the .99's are owned by Wallmart
    Store Clerk: what about $1.98?
    Store Manager: Owned by Texaco...
    Store Clerk: $2.01? that's an unusual price, no one will have..
    Store Manager: BestBuy
    Store Clerk: 2.02?
    Store Manager: Circuit City
    Store Clerk: Fine, what price should I put on it?
    Store Manager: One and one sixth of a dollar and fourteen halves of a cent.
    Store Clerk: ..... We need a new price label gun.

  4. Re:"Intellectual Property" is a meaningless FUD wo by dwater · · Score: 5, Funny

    > What's next? They claim they own the page numbers too?

    If they're claiming page numbers 386, 486, and 686, they'll have a big battle with Intel.

    --
    Max.