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Plagiarism, Fair Use, and You As a College Student
An Unofficial Guide
Copyright Law and Public Domain
All of Title 17 in the United States Code defines and protects the creative work of authors, artists, and performers. It also defines terms like “public domain” and “fair use,” and specifies exceptions to copyright law. No college student is immune from copyright law.
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Anything “fixed,” that is, recorded in any form—unpublished manuscript, published, broadcast, recorded in any format, posted electronically (like Web pages), performed (dances), painted, photographed, carved, you name it—falls within the protection of copyright.
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Salinger case—Court ruled that the writer possesses copyright to their letters, not the person to whom he wrote, nor the owner of the physical letter itself (like an autograph collector), therefore letters could not be published without his consent. Creator owns and may distribute (or not) their work
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Rum And Coca Cola case—Court ruled that close derivations of a work (music, in this case) are infringements of copyright
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Any format that reproduces an idea as text, sound, images, or creative object is included within copyright terms—therefore any inappropriate use of a format falls within copyright penalties
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“Public domain” means that a document, image, or recording may be copied or reproduced without payment being made to the creator. Public documents (federal and state) are in public domain. Works for which copyright has expired are in public domain. An item being in public domain does not mean or imply that pieces of it may be used without citation—that is plagiarism.
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Different laws apply to patents and service marks (trademarks)
Quoting, Citing, and Fair Use v Plagiarism
Yes, you can use sources appropriately in your schoolwork. Title 17, chapter 1, section 107 defines the doctrine of “fair use.” Education has broader protection under fair use clauses, not absolute protection.
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A student’s not-for-profit study use does not exempt them from copyright considerations; permission from a copyright holder may be secured.
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Reproduction by a student may not then be commercially distributed.
- You may study and cite a work without duplicating it and not infringe copyright
- You may make a single copy for personal use (notes, study); no one else can copy your copy, but they can copy the original you used
- Basic Books, Inc. v Kinkos Graphics Corp.—Professors gathering articles and duplicating them for classes is copyright infringement
- Works may be cited without being quoted, but if quoted they must be cited.
- Quotation requires use of appropriate marks, ( “ ) and ( ” ) or a block indent, as well as a correct citation to the exact source cited (citation style differs between disciplines—ask your professor or a reference librarian for help).
- Quotations must still fall within terms of fair use, generally defined as: fewer than 400 words, two lines of poetry, only part of a table, specific (usually enlarged) details out of a picture. Any greater use requires a specific, legally binding permission grant from the copyright holder.
- Fair use REPRODUCTION protected by law is not the same as COPYING. U.S. case law is crystal clear: copying anything that is not your own and presenting it as your original writing or image is both plagiarism and puts you in criminal violation of the copyright statute; if the owner chooses, you may be prosecuted.
- Works may be marked “free use” by the copyright holder—especially reference stuff distributed electronically—but that does not imply that sections can be copied by users, whether students or scholars, and represented part of their own work. Cutting and pasting uncited text or images into your document is not “fair use.
Plagiarism
- Copying all or part of a Website, document, or presenting an image without a correct citation constitutes plagiarism.
- For a student, turning in a test, paper, or assignment serves as “publication” and an explicit, legally binding claim of original authorship. Any assignment turned in for a grade or credit that has uncited sections copied from another work is admissible in any court as prima facie evidence of plagiarism.
- Simply turning in a paper with your name on it constitutes legal proof of guilt in the case of plagiarism, which makes the act prosecutable—there is no “innocent until proven guilty.”
- Robinson v. Random House Inc.; Rubin v. Brooks/Cole Publ. Co.—The alleged infringer carries the legal burden of proof to show fair use of a source.
- Plagiarism shares the same burden of proof as copyright infringement—you have to prove the work was original and not copied unfairly by providing documentation (notes, outlines, drafts, revisions) demonstrating clear progress in the process of creation.
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