Sophia G.

Pimentel June 23, 2022

BS Entre 1-2 ENT 1101-2

UNDERSTANDING COPYRIGHT LAW: AVOIDING COPYRIGHT INFRIGEMENT THAT

OCCASSIONALY MOST OF STUDENTS FORGET

I. Introduction

Copyright is an intellectual property right that safeguards original works. Authors are
granted exclusive rights to their works under copyright rules. In other words, any unlawful
use could be considered a copyright violation. Copyright infringement is a civil action
brought by the federal government. It happens when a copyrighted work is copied,
distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or turned into a derivative work without the
owner's permission. Piracy, text plagiarism, photocopying machines producing multiple
copies of copyrighted information, duplication of web pages, and other forms of
infringement are all examples of infringement in this context. Copyright is one of those
vexing topics that plagues artists. After all, if you write something, compose music, snap a
photograph, or create in any other way, you should theoretically be given full credit (and
payment).

Students in higher education institutions are becoming more and more concerned about copyright
violations. For instance, it was suggested that copyright infringement in the academic setting is not a
recent occurrence (Aboyade, Aboyade, and Ajala, 2015; Williams, 2005). The economy of the copyright
owner is typically impacted by this copyright infringement problem. In light of this, Moahi (2004) and
Isiakpona (2012) remark that a grasp of copyright is crucial in an academic, scholarly, and artistic setting
where authors frequently use their influence. The most fundamental method of minimizing copyright
infringement was determined to be raising public awareness of copyright laws and potential penalties for
breaking them. The study's one and only tested hypothesis found that students' perceptions of copyright
infringement varied significantly depending on their academic standing (Chi Cal. = 740.85, df=16, chi
table= 26.30 at 0.05 level of significant difference). Based on these facts, the study suggests that authors
and publishers work to make their textbooks less expensive. Additionally, higher education libraries
should be well-stocked with sufficient and pertinent printed and literary resources. To assist with lowering
the rate of piracy and photocopying in higher education institutions, they should be easily accessible to
students when they need them. Numerous ways exist for undergraduate students to violate copyright
regulations. (McInnis and Devlin, 2002) assert that copyright infringement can occur with a variety of
motives, including willful deception, carelessness or accidently failing to cite sources when paraphrasing
from original sources, and ignorance of academic referencing practices. However, in certain circumstances
they might be shielded by a provision or restriction, while in others they are just unethical actions that
aren't necessarily criminal. If works protected by copyright are duplicated, distributed, performed,
publicly displayed, or transformed into a derivative work without the owner's consent, undergraduate
students may be breaking the law. This differs from plagiarism, which includes actions like downloading
papers from the Internet, copying articles from online databases or the Internet, translating foreign
articles into English or other languages, stealing a paper from another student, copying and pasting from
multiple sources, quoting only part of what was copied, changing some words but copying whole phrases,
paraphrasing without attribution, summarizing without attribution, and fabricating quotations (Bretag
and Mahmud, 2007).

You can avoid these by not utilizing something if it isn't your own creation. Copyright rules follow
the same principle as the adage "If it's not yours, don't touch it": the first step is to get the owner,
author, or holder of the copyright to expressly permit any use of the protected work. You are not
permitted to utilize the work unless you are the author of it. This holds true even if a work doesn't
have a copyright sign attached to it. The majority of what you discover online is not acceptable.
Since the content (blogs, literary or artistic works, etc.) was produced by someone else, everything
you view or read online is typically copyrighted by default. You are unquestionably violating
copyrighted content whenever you copy, reproduce, show, or otherwise present another's work
(such as an image, musical recording, article, or any other form of work that you did not create) as
your own. Whether or whether you received financial gain from the use, this is true.

Conclusion:
This study looked at how much most students knew about copyright violations. So far, the findings
have typically shown that students are somewhat aware of copyright legislation and copyright
violation. The findings also showed that students strongly believe that intellectual dishonesty is a
type of copyright infringement, and that the primary ways in which students violated copyright
laws involved the duplication and distribution of online content. The study's findings also show
that expensive textbooks are a big contributor to the unethical practice of making illicit
photocopies, along with a lack of information resources, anxiety over receiving subpar grades, and
overcrowded curriculum. Additionally, growing awareness of The main method of minimizing
copyright infringement among students was suggested to be copyright law. Additional strategies
include lowering textbook costs, streamlining overloaded school curricula, and fining any students
who violate copyright laws.
REFERENCES:

https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/
https://www.bidsketch.com/blog/everything-else/copyright-issues/
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/useinformationcorrectly/copyright-and-fair-use/1/
https://www.umc.edu/graduateschool/files/sgs-copyrightguide.pdf
Aboyade, W.A. Aboyade, M.A. & Ajala, B.A. (2015). Copyright infringement and photocopy services
among University students and teachers in Nigeria. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 8:1 (2015)
463-473.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/COPYRIGHT-INFRINGEMENT-AND-PHOTOCOPY-SERVICES-
AMONG-Aboyade/eef6a37096edc98b538bc141164177f3c382d24d

Bretag, T.; Mahmud, S. (2009). Self-plagiarism or appropriate textual re-use. Journal of Academic Ethics
7: (2009) 193-205.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10805-009-9092-1

Isiakpona, C.D. (2011). Undergraduate students' perception of copyright infringement a case study of
the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. // Library Philosophy and Practice, 2011.
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/isiakpona.htm (2013- 08-26)

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/689/