Is it permissible to download lectures and books that the lecturer or author himself has made available, even though we hear that the rights are reserved? Is the permission of the publishing house required in addition to the lecturer’s permission to download them? And is the lecturer entitled to make his lectures available for download without the permission of the publishing house?

It is impermissible to download lectures or books uploaded to the internet without the permission of the lecturer, author, or publishing house that owns the copyrights. This is based on the necessity of preserving intellectual property rights. There is no difference in the prohibition between personal or commercial use. If the author sells the full copyrights to a publishing house, the rights transfer to them, and permission becomes exclusively theirs. If the author and the publishing house are partners in the copyrights, then downloading is not permissible except with their joint permission. As for the author downloading his own lectures for personal use after selling the copyrights, there is no harm in it customarily, provided it does not harm the publishing house.