Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

I am a high school student.

My question is: Is it legal to give my friends this voice recording?

To study for the SATs, I recorded myself saying SAT words from the book "Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Dictionary". It's basically like a dictionary for sat words. A link can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1427798648/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1419597116&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=10P0TH4TBVVMTA60WFEP

So anyways, I recorded myself saying these words, and it basically became an audio version of this dictionary/book. One of my classmates noticed and asked me for a mp3 copy

So I was wondering if it's legal to give this to my classmate, because technically it is an an audiobook, and if I give this to him, will I be violating any copyright rules, etc?

Thanks


Asked on 7/14/11, 5:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

I am not an expert in this field but i would think that it is a violation of the copy right as you have made a copy of the entire book. You have not done it for profit but that might not be sufficient to protect you, especially since your friend might later give you something in return or might rent or sell the tape to someone else. The Kaplan people might eventually find out about it and then you will get a nasty letter from their attorneys. I think in the long run it is best that you tell your friend an attorney told you not to give him/her the copy.

By the way, your presentation of your question was much superior to the average person who writes to this site. Well done.

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Answered on 7/16/11, 7:00 am


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