Re: Complimentary Copies of Textbooks

Begin forwarded message:

>
>> People contract all the time to limit rights they would otherwise have
>> under copyright law.
>>
>> Does anyone think that copyright law makes those promises
>> unenforceable? I've never seen any case law saying so.
>
> There are many things that could make a contract unenforceable, such as
> illegality, unconscionability, and coercion. Often, contracts of
> adhesion
> are not enforceable because the parties are not on equal terms. Thus,
> yes,
> some promises are unenforceable.
>
> -Bodi

Yes, but very, very rare. It is not true that this occurs "often" (well, perhaps "often" as in several times a year among the millions of contract suits nationwide), and anyone advising a client that she can breach a contract -- even a standard-form contract -- and expect that the term being breached would not be enforced (absent caselaw specific to that term) is giving very dangerous advice and ought to be sure his malpractice insurance is in force.

It is certainly inconceivable to me that a promise not to redistribute a copy of a textbook given for free would be held unconscionable, and professors surely are not coerced to accept free copies. They have every right to reject the "onerous" terms accompanying a free copy and buy one instead.

• Paul