Question (in class)

In a WSU context, which aspects of intellectual property need to be more regulated and which aspects of intellectual property need to be less regulated, and why? 

In the context of education ad WSU there are certain ideas to consider when regulating how we use, create, and share our intellectual property. Let's consider for a moment what intellectual property might look like on the WSU campus. Many students create art, music, writing and other works that need protection under law. However, the use of textbooks, readings, and other materials used for education, brought to the students both by teachers and their own research, are, in my opinion, pieces of intellectual property that need to be less regulated. Where there is a fine line between derivative works and copyright infringement or plagiarism, often the use of material for education is fairly obvious. 

However, it is also fair to say that those who write texts, make videos, develop lectures, etc, all need to get paid for their work in some way. The regulations that WSU has on the way we do pay the authors seem to be slow and inefficient, as course readers take months to both put together, have checked, and then publish, not to mention the money involved in that process. In other words, teachers have to jump through many loops to provide a small amount of material that is generally outdated, and often not the entirety of what they originally wanted to use. I think that, for education, and use of copyright protected work in general, there needs to be a quicker way to go about getting ahold of that material without getting a lawsuit.