Two legal and ethical concepts are important for the writer, researcher, student or educator to consider when making use of materials created by others. These are plagiarism and copyright. Plagarism and copyright are separate, although related, issues. Just because something may not be protected by copyright, and most material is, it is not open to use without providing credit to its source. Plagarism is an ethical violation of the need to acknowledge the source of ideas and information. Plagarism is often addressed in institutional or company policies with disciplinary consequences. Copyright is a legal concept requiring permission to directly use or copy material protected by the rights of the owner as defined by the US legal system.
According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, to plagiarize is "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source." In other words, credit must be given to all sources of information and ideas not one's own. Althought the action might be considered unintentional "borrowing," the use of someone's ideas without giving credit is still plagarism and a serious concern. If there is any doubt, always give credit by citing the source. For a clear review of the finer points of plagarism, as well as an online interactive quiz, see the University of North Carolina Greensboro's tutorial chapter From Researching to Writing. See also the next chapter on Plagarism. With the heavy use of the Internet by students and the ease of using Internet search engines, professors are now routinely checking student writing for copied content. There are a number of electronic checkers in widespread use on college campuses.
Copyright relates to the further need to receive permission from the source or a legal representative for the direct use of certain material as covered by law. The following information is made available to assist you in compliance. When using materials made available through the library as in other situations, you are responsible for complying with copyright law.
For the College's computer use policies that relate to these issues, see the campus policy on Acceptable Use of Information Technology.
The following is excerpted from Copyright Basics, United States Copyright Office, Circular No. 1, Rev. December, 2004. Available through the Web at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html.
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of the "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and authorize others to do the following:
In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the rights of attribution and integrity as described in the section 106A of the 1976 Copyright Act. For further information, request Circular 40. "Copyright Registration for Works of the Visual Arts."
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of these rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a statutory basis in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act. In other instances, the limitation takes the form of a "compulsory license" under which certain limited uses of copyrighted works are permitted upon payment of specified royalties and compliance with statutory conditions. (p. 1-2)
Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music ("copies") or in phonograph disks ("phonorecords"), or both. (p. 3)
The exemption of "fair use" noted above is particularly important for educational institutions and libraries. A detailed review of many of the issues is made available from the Copyright Office in the document Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians.
Helpful examples of "fair use" can be found on the Bitlaw Web site at Fair Use in Copyright.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -
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