AlumNet

There are many things to consider in this case study. I looked at a few of them before I made my final decision. I looked at the purpose of the site, why the site was created/who created it, if the site was limiting the copyright holder's ability to make money, if a copyright has to be registered to be the owner and who first had the name.

The understanding of Fair Use that Hobbs describes states that if it was student made or if it serves and educational purpose, then copyright laws can be broken. In this instance, it was student made,but it did not serve and educational purpose, rather it served a social purpose. It was not in competition with the Copyright holder's site, so I think the school would have a good case for fair use for it. The case study also states that the school can prove that they used the name first. This makes one look at the copyright laws as to who would own the copyright. In chapter 2, Hobbs states, "A work is automatically copyrighted at the moment of creation, as long as it exists in a fixed, tangible form...You don't have to register a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office." Because of this the school would not have to change the name of their site because it is actually the other company that is in violation of the copyright law.