Plagiarism is taking the writings or literary ideas of another and selling and/or publishing them as one's own writing. Brief quotes or use of cited sources do not constitute plagiarism. The original author can bring a lawsuit for appropriation of his/her work against the plagiarist and recover the profits. Although not normally a crime, a person who plagiarizes is subject to being sued for fraud or copyright infringement if prior creation can be proved. Penalties vary depending on jurisdiction and the charges brought.
Intentional or unintentional use of another's words or ideas without acknowledging this use constitutes plagiarism: There are four common forms of plagiarism:
" The duplication of an author's words without quotation marks and accurate references or footnotes.
" The duplication of author's words or phrases with footnotes or accurate references, but without quotation marks.
" The use of an author's ideas in paraphrase without accurate references or footnotes.
" Submitting a paper in which exact words are merely rearranged even though footnoted.
The word copyright can be defined as a property right in an original work of authorship (such as a literary, musical, artistic, photographic, or film work) fixed in any tangible medium of expression, giving the holder the exclusive right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform, and display the work. Copyright protection may be received regarding a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms or works. These include poems, plays, and other literary works, movies, choreographic works (dances, ballets, etc.), musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, radio and television broadcasts. The creator of the work has a limited monopoly on the work and can, with some exceptions, prohibit others from copying or displaying the work. The United States copyright law is contained in Chapters 1 through 8 and 10 through 12 of Title 17 of the United States Code.
