Online plagiarism, Copyright Regulations & Fair Use

According to Landers (2011), ‘in a study of 1222 undergraduates … 61.9% admitted to [engage] in online plagiarism’.

Plagiarism is one of the research misconduct which many journalists and students have committed. An article ‘Copyrighted material: fairand unfair use’ which was featured on Editors Weblog on 22 June 2011 reported that the issues of copyright and plagiarism are out of control because of the advent of Internet. ‘Sometimes material online is blatantly stolen and plagiarized’ (Pichon 2011). Journalists have to be aware of the issues, as they may be suspended or terminated if their material is plagiarized. However, plagiarism standards are still overlooked by newsrooms. This situation will cause repercussions for journalists.

‘Righthaven, a company [which] specializing in copyright litigation’ (Pichon 2011)

The Internet has become a primary information source for users. As McKenzie (cited in Wang 2008, p. 743) states, ‘The New Plagiarism may be worse than the old because [the Internet] makes it possible to find and save huge chunks of information with little reading, effort or originality’. Eventually, it causes a continuous decline in journalism standards.

Plagiarism is an ‘act of taking and using the whole or any part of another person’s work and presenting it as your own without proper acknowledgement’ (Temasek Polytechnic 2011). On the other hand, copyright is a form of legal protection to defense an author’s original works; for example, the CopyrightAct 1987 that is implemented in Malaysia. Any reader is required to obtain permission before reprinting the works. However, the Internet diminishes the division line between copyrighted and free content. Many journalists do not know how to differentiate the two terms. Upon this matter, Saver (2006, p. 574) clarifies that ‘materials available on the Internet are copyright protected in the same way that printed materials are’. It is considered as plagiarism if one uses the information without citing the original source.

Furthermore, fair use is the one of the most misunderstood concepts in copyright law. ‘This is a doctrine that provides a defense to copyright infringement for some acts’ (Hollaar 2002). The copyright act only allows copyrighted material to be reposted for the purpose of criticism, commentary, research, scholarship, teaching or news reporting. The weakness of this act is ‘the law offers virtually no details for determining which activities may be safely allowed’ (Davidson n.d., p. 5).

In sum, there are still some flaws in the ethical publishing principles and copyright regulations. The government needs to reconstruct them in order to control the issues.

Journalism is one of the main media which publish research articles. ‘Editors therefore have the responsibility to ensure that, where appropriate, research articles submitted for publication meet the ethical standards required by journal’ (Price 2009, p. 95).

References:

Davidson, H n.d., Fair use of copyrighted works, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://www.halldavidson.net/FAIRUSE.PDF>.

Hollaar, LA 2002, Chapter 1: An overview of copyright, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://digital-law-online.info/lpdi1.0/treatise13.html>.

Landers, RN 2011, ‘Online plagiarism and cybercheating still strong – 61.9%’, NeoAcademic, blos posting, 4 February, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://neoacademic.com/2011/02/04/online-plagiarism-and-cybercheating-still-strong/>.

Pichon, F 2011, ‘Copyrighted material: fair and unfair use’, Editors Weblog, 22 June, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2011/06/copyrighted_material_fair_and_unfair_use.php>.

Price, R 2009, ‘Ethical issues in publishing’, Radiography, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 95-96, viewed 11 November 2011, DOI: 10.1016/j.radi.2009.03.001.

Saver, C 2006, ‘Legal and ethical aspects of publishing’, AORN Journal, vol. 84, no. 4, pp. 571-575, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdlink?vinst=PROD&fmt=6&startpage=-1&ver=1&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=1144882371&exp=11-11-2016&scaling=FULL&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1321197050&clientId=14273>.

Temasek Polytechnic 2011, Plagiarism, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://spark.tp.edu.sg/lib_home/lib_research/lib_plagiarism.htm>.

Wang, YM 2008, ‘University student online plagiarism’, International Journal On E-Learning, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 743-757, viewed 11 November 2011, <http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdlink?vinst=PROD&fmt=6&startpage=-1&ver=1&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=1580113191&exp=11-11-2016&scaling=FULL&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1321197569&clientId=14273>.