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Claiming Prices as 'Intellectual Property'

Harvard Crimson: Coop Discourages Notetaking in Bookstore:

Coop President Jerry P. Murphy ’73 said that while there is no Coop policy against individual students copying down book information, “we discourage people who are taking down a lot of notes.” The apparent new policy could be a response to efforts by Crimsonreading.org—an online database that allows students to find the books they need for each course at discounted prices from several online booksellers—from writing down the ISBN identification numbers for books at the Coop and then using that information for their Web site. Murphy said the Coop considers that information the Coop’s 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 ’08, a co-creator of the site.

So here’s the counter-move, coming to the Coop soon: snapping a quick photo of the price with a mobile phone camera, or better yet, scanning the bar code.

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