Boston University is planning to sue Beantown Notes, a company that pays students to take notes and sells them to other students, and some professors have asked their students not to use the service, according to College of Arts and Sciences professor James Johnson.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said the university is looking into a possible ‘cease and desist’ suit against the company, but he was unsure as to whether the suit has already been filed.

Riley said the suits are similar to actions the university has taken against companies in the past.

‘We have taken action against term paper mills going back to the ’70s when there were storefront companies that were hawking written term papers, and we have done the same against internet term paper companies,’ Riley said.

However, Beantown Notes manager Emanuel Goffer said the company is not doing anything illegal.

‘If this were illegal, and we were stealing something, then we wouldn’t have a store front we’d be working out of some basement somewhere, and we wouldn’t be throwing flyers around campus,’ Goffer said.

Goffer said a small portion of his note-takers have shown concern over the possibility of legal action, but he considers it simply a scare tactic.

‘For a professor to stand in front of a class and say he’s going to press charges he can’t,’ Goffer said. ‘He’s just trying to scare them.’

Ian Herr, a managing consultant to Beantown Notes, said he would me willing to meet with any professors who have problems with the service. If a professor had legitimate concerns after meeting, the company would consider dropping the course from its product list, he added.

‘I would have no problem talking one-on-one with the professors who have problems with us,’ Herr said. ‘I would be happy to explain what we’re doing … We’re not here to be against the professors, we want to work with them.’

Johnson said the BU General Counsel is looking into taking legal action.

‘With eminent legal action, every note taker would be well advised to stop now,’ he said.

Johnson, the dean of the Core Curriculum program, said he and other professors have asked their students not to subscribe to Beantown Notes because what the company does is unethical and students who participate are no better.

‘I think taking the hard work, preparation and expertise of a professor’s lecture and making a profit off of it without the professor’s consent is deeply unethical,’ Johnson said. ‘Students selling intellectual work without the professor’s consent I consider that academic misconduct.’

Riley agreed that what the company is doing is ethically wrong.

‘This is content owned by the faculty member, and an organization that has no involvement whatsoever making a profit off of it is just wrong,’ he said.

Herr said he is upset that professors stand in front of their classes before making sure what they say is accurate.

‘I think they should be a little responsible and make sure they are accurate in the things they are saying,’ Herr said. ‘I don’t see that what we’re doing is wrong. We’re finding students who are good note takers, typing them up and making them available. It’s nothing that students haven’t done since the beginning of time.’

Peter Wood, associate professor of anthropology, said professors understand that students often miss a class and borrow notes, but he said relying solely on others notes without talking to the professor is not a wise idea.

‘The professor knows what he is looking for better than another student,’ Wood said.

Johnson also said students should not necessarily hope for success in a course by using notes provided from someone they do not know.

He said he showed the company’s notes to a Core science professor who said they were a misrepresentation of his lecture.

‘I personally wouldn’t use the notes because I wouldn’t trust them,’ said CAS senior Sara Weber.

Weber said she would probably never sell her notes to the company either.

‘I thought about it, because I take meticulous notes, but it sounded a little suspicious,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t sure if it was legal. Plus, I work hard for my notes.’

However, Goffer said they only select students with the best grades and an average grade point average of 3.5 to promote accuracy.

‘If they send us in their notes and they don’t look good, then we probably would not carry the class, because what we are trying to get out there is great notes, not simply a product,’ Goffer said.

Johnson said he believes note-taking services corrupt the academic environment and fundamentally changes the atmosphere when people know some part of the class is being used to make money.

Herr said he would continue running his business with assurances from attorneys that what he is doing is legal.

‘I am not going to argue legalities with professors,’ Herr said. ‘We have attorneys to do that. I am told what I am doing is legal, and I am following those guidelines to make a legal business.’