Utilising Paid Courses Without Authorisation

Question: He states that there are professors in medical schools who explain the curriculum through paid course systems, and there are students who manage, through various means, to access these courses without the professor's permission and distribute them for free among other students. Is it permissible for me to listen to videos and content from these courses, although I had no involvement in their distribution or unauthorised access? Sheikh ’Abdulḥamīd Az-Zu'kari ḥafidhahullāh: If it is indeed the students who are sharing the material, the issue then concerns intellectual property rights, which stipulate that such content should not be disseminated without the professor's consent. Anyone who finds these materials should benefit from them personally without distributing them further. This is comparable to a scenario where someone shares knowledge but explicitly requests that it not be further shared. Some scholars argued that the person has no right to restrict dissemination in this case, but it is permissible for an individual to use the material for personal use without further distribution. This is because such content involves costs for the professor, and the property of a Muslim is not lawful except with their consent. It is therefore necessary to respect these rights unless explicit permission is given.