Intellectual Property, Copyright and File-Sharing

SOU complies with all United States copyright laws. Many peer to peer file sharing activities violate copyright law. You should be aware that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) continue to file subpoenas requesting information from colleges and universities about the identities of students engaged in illegal sharing of music and video online. Students engaging in the unauthorized download, reproduction, or distribution of any copyrighted material including music, video, live performance, text, or images may be personally sued, liable for large settlements, and possible criminal prosecution. Be advised that if served, SOU must comply with such requests, and will not accept any financial liability, nor provide legal representation for violators. Changes in rulings of recent court cases, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and recent subpoenas and lawsuits are all evidence that copyright owners intend to actively pursue violators. For your own protection do not put yourself at risk by engaging in unauthorized file sharing of copyrighted works!

Software programs that are typically used to enable unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works include but are not limited to Ares, Kazaa, Gnutella, Bittorrent, Edonkey, Kontiki, PeerEnabler, LimeWire, Directconnect and WinMX. Since it is possible to use these file sharing products to perform legal downloads of digital material, how do you know if the material is unauthorized? Simple rule of thumb, if you haven’t paid for the material, and the artist has not authorized the material for free downloading, it is not legal to download or share it.