Law Commons^™

A Legal Scholarship Jubilee, Brian L. Frye

Northwestern Law Journal des Refusés

No abstract provided.

A License To Plagiarize, Brian L. Frye

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Penal Measures Against Plagiarism In The Digital Environment, ٍSafaa Otani

UAEU Law Journal

The digital revolution has been a double-edged sword in the Education sector. As much as it had an enormously positive impact on both education and scientific research, including the provision of new types of education like computer-aided instruction and online courses, it has become a source of real abuse by both students and members of academic staff. Students and Staff ‘ease of access to the digital world has lured some of them to steal others people publications, such as research papers, scientific reports and theses, and attribute them to themselves. This has caused rise to a new phenomena: “Plagiarism in …

Plagiarism Pedagogy: Why Teaching Plagiarism Should Be A Fundamental Part Of Legal Education, Brian L. Frye, Megan E. Boyd

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

As a practicing lawyer, if you aren’t plagiarizing, you’re committing malpractice. Litigators copy forms and arguments from winning briefs rather than bill their clients for reinventing the wheel. Transactional lawyers copy enforceable agreements to ensure their agreements are enforceable too. Partners routinely present documents prepared by associates (and sometimes even paralegals) as their own work. And judges are the most prolific plagiarists of all, copying briefs, opinions, treatises, and legal and nonlegal scholarship, adopting arguments from lawyers and holdings from other judges as their own and claiming authorship of opinions written primarily by their clerks or the parties to the …

Plagiarize This Paper, Brian L. Frye

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

It is meet and just that I write this essay while toiling in the salt mines of academia. We academics devote our works and days to scouring those mines for ideas in the rough. Some of us discover a rich vein, but others must comb through the tailings. Whatever we find, we cut and polish until it glistens and shines. Of course, some ideas prove to be diamonds while others remain mere pebbles. But then a diamond is just a pebble that many people admire, and one person’s diamond is another’s pebble. Regardless, academics strive to find the scholarly diamond …

Self-Plagiarism, Josh Blackman

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright Owners' Putative Interests In Privacy, Reputation, And Control: A Reply To Goold, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

My own view is that Goold overstates the explanatory role of tort law. But even were that not the case, the courts need to reach some kind of “settled” understanding on these various interests before a cause of action is created or definitively rejected, and that no such consensus on the three matters mentioned yet exists, whether they are viewed as forms of tort or otherwise. Goold’s work may nevertheless be an important step toward reaching closure on these and other open questions in copyright law.

Is Students’ Knowledge Of The Student Conduct Code Associated With Their Conduct Code-Breaking Behaviors On Campus?, Joy D. Bonner

Honors College Theses

Annually colleges and universities spend countless hours updating their student codes of conduct, but is this added time worth the hassle if students continue to break the code? The purpose of this study was to examine the effects a student’s knowledge of a university’s code of conduct may have on the amount of code-breaking behaviors committed on campus. A survey was administered to students at Georgia Southern University analyzing students’ knowledge and perceptions of academic dishonesty and plagiarism on campus. Each participant was asked a series of questions analyzing their knowledge of the code, its sanctions, as well as the …

Plagiarism Is Not A Crime, Brian L. Frye

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Copyright infringement and plagiarism are related but distinct concepts. Copyright prohibits certain uses of original works of authorship without permission. Plagiarism norms prohibit copying certain expressions, facts, and ideas without attribution. The prevailing theory of copyright is the economic theory, which holds that copyright is justified because it is economically efficient. This article considers whether academic plagiarism norms are economically efficient. It concludes that academic plagiarism norms prohibiting non-copyright infringing plagiarism are not efficient and should be ignored.

Helping International Students Avoid The Plagiarism Minefield: Suggestions From A Second Language Teacher And Writer, Diane B. Kraft

Law Faculty Popular Media

In this column for Perspectives: Teaching and Writing, Professor Diane B. Kraft provides suggestions to address the problem of plagiarism by international law students.

The 360° Of Information Fluency Delivery To Freshman Engineering Students, Marian G. Armour-Gemmen, Robin A.M. Hensel, Mary L. Strife

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

For three years, engineering librarians from West Virginia University (WVU) have been teaching information fluency skills to 700-1000 freshman engineering students per year, using a specific information fluency cycle. The librarians’ responsibilities in the Fall 2013 course syllabus included teaching once in each section, providing a two-hour, in-library group sessions to accommodate almost 700 students, delivering an intellectual property Blackboard™ module for students to complete over a specific period of time, and requiring students to complete a Plagiarism Avoidance Tutorial with quiz. Some of these components are similar to those of past semesters. However, past collection of the data was …

Copyright, Plagiarism, And Emerging Norms In Digital Publishing, J. D. Lipton

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Today's copyright law derives from the needs of the publishing industry in centuries past. The digital world creates even more significant concerns for authors and publishers than those that arose with the advent of the printing press. Digital technology enables easy, fast, and inexpensive global copying and distribution of digital texts. Other digitized industries--such as the music, movie, and video-game industries--have faced these challenges with a higher apparent success rate, at least in the courts, than the publishing industry. This Article considers why publishing has been less successful in protecting its online copyrights and examines the extent to which copyright …

A Taxonomy Of Borrowing, Jacqueline D. Lipton Ph.D.

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

While copyright infringement is a legal wrong, plagiarism is a breach of academic and market practices. However, few authors of literary works truly understand the difference between the two. Copyright law seeks to protect economic interests in an underlying work, while plagiarism—and in countries where moral rights are robust, associated legal rights—protect the integrity of the work and the author’s claim to the work. The digital age has refocused attention on the kinds of claims an author or copyright holder might make with respect to unauthorized uses of a literary work. The ease with which a digital work may be …

Something Bad In Your Briefs, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In a profession heavily driven by writing, plagiarism is an ethical issue that plagues the legal community. The legal profession generally views plagiarism as unethical, but often sends mixed messages by condemning it in some settings, but not others. In this short Commentary, Professor Underwood discusses the ethical implications of plagiarism in legal writing.

Copyright Infringement Of Music: Determining Whether What Sounds Alike Is Alike, Margit Livingston, Joseph Urbinato

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The standard for copyright infringement is the same across different forms of expression. But musical expression poses special challenges for courts deciding infringement disputes because of its unique attributes. Tonality in Western music offers finite compositional choices that will be pleasing or satisfying to the ear. The vast storehouse of existing public domain music means that many of those choices have been exhausted. Although independent creation negates plagiarism, the inevitable similarity among musical pieces within the same genre leaves courts in a quandary as to whether defendant composers infringed earlier copyrighted works or simply found their own way to a …

Do Students Turn Over Their Rights When They Turn In Their Papers? A Case Study Of Turnitin.Com, Stephen Sharon

Touro Law Review

Turnitin is a rapidly growing online anti-plagiarism service subscribed to by thousands of schools in the United States. Though the pursuit of honesty and integrity are at the heart of our academic institutions and the Turnitin anti-plagiarism service, there is a fatal flaw in its execution. This comment examines the copyright and fair use arguments presented by four Virginia students asserting that Turnitin violated their intellectual property rights. This comment goes beyond the facts of the four Virginia students to explore the root issues of a service that collects and distributes the copyrighted works submitted to it by hundreds of …

Tolerance Is Law: Remixing Homage Parodying Plagiarism, Mathias Klang, Jan Nolin

Mathias Klang

Three centuries have passed since copyright law was developed to stimulate creativity and promote learning. The fundamental principles still apply, despite radical developments in the technology of production and distribution of cultural material. In particular the last decades’ developments and adoption of ICTs have drastically lowered barriers, which previously prevented entry into the production and distribution side of the cultural marketplace, and led to a widening of the base at which cultural production occurs and is disseminated. Additionally, digitalisation has made it economically and technically feasible for users to appropriate and manipulate earlier works as method of production. The renegotiation …

Comparing Android Applications To Find Copying, Larry Melling, Bob Zeidman

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The Android smartphone operating system includes a Java virtual machine that enables rapid development and deployment of a wide variety of applications. The open nature of the platform means that reverse engineering of applications is relatively easy, and many developers are concerned as applications similar to their own show up in the Android marketplace and want to know if these applications are pirated. Fortunately, the same characteristics that make an Android application easy to reverse engineer and copy also provide opportunities for Android developers to compare downloaded applications to their own. This paper describes the process for comparing a developer’s …

Plagiarism In Lawyers' Advocacy: Imposing Discipline For Conduct Prejudicial To The Administration Of Justice, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In a recent high-profile prosecution, the federal district court criticized defense counsel for filing a post-trial brief that copied passages from previously published material without attribution. The court followed other recent decisions that, since about 2000, have chastised lawyers for briefs marked by plagiarism. Some lawyers had copied passages from earlier judicial opinions that rest in the public domain, and some lawyers (as in the recent prosecution) had copied passages from private sources that are subject to the copyright laws. In either event, courts have labeled lawyers’ plagiarism “reprehensible,” “intolerable,” “completely unacceptable,” and “unprofessional.”

Appropriate Testing And Resolution: How To Determine Whether Appropriation Art Is Transformative Fair Use Or Merely In Unauthorized Derivative., Eric D. Gorman

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the copyright concerns in appropriation art today and concludes that copyright law should be amended to address the complex issues found in this area of the law. Part II provides a background on appropriation art and the different facets of copyright law, including the doctrine of fair use. Part III analyzes whether appropriation art can even be considered “fair use” under the current exceptions of copyright infringement. Part IV discusses various legal tests to determine whether appropriation art that utilizes copyrighted material can exercise the doctrine of fair use against alleged copyright infringement. It also proposes a …

The Problems Of Plagiarism As An Ethics Offense, Peter A. Joy, Kevin C. Mcmunigal

Faculty Publications

This column questions the practices of labeling attorney copying, even without acknowledgement, as plagiarism, and treating it as a per se ethics violation. Instead, the column argues that analysis of copying in the litigation context should focus directly on the quality of the filing at issue and the competence and diligence of the lawyer who prepared it.

He Said, You Said., Timothy Blevins

Timothy D Blevins

Essay describing how proper attribution and citation can minimize possible allegations of academic dishonesty. The paper also addresses the benefit of increased credibility for the analytical attributes of the novice author. Professional and ethical concerns are identified.

Copyright’S Twilight Zone: Digital Copyright Lessons From The Vampire Blogosphere, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

Web 2.0 technologies, characterized by user-generated content, raise new challenges for copyright law. Online interactions involving reproductions of copyrighted works in blogs, online fan fiction, and online social networks do not comfortably fit existing copyright paradigms. It is unclear whether participants in Web 2.0 forums are creating derivative works, making legitimate fair uses of copyright works, or engaging in acts of digital copyright piracy and plagiarism. As online conduct becomes more interactive, copyright laws are less effective in creating clear signals about proscribed conduct. This article examines the application of copyright law to Web 2.0 technologies. It suggests that social …

The Ginsburg Group: Technology: How To Stay Out Of Court, Jennifer Ballard, Lee Maglinger, Alisha Orosz, Mandy Skinner, Kevin Thomas

Parameters of Law in Student Affairs and Higher Education (CNS 670)

For professionals in higher education, it is our responsibility to stay on top of the ever changing landscape of technology at our colleges and universities. In order to provide the best and most convenient services, it is our objective to continue to expand the walls of higher education into the global boundaries of technology. For the purpose of this paper, the Ginsburg Group has focused on five different areas regarding the use of technology. In these areas, the information provided is our thoughts and best advice in how institutions of higher learning can avoid the courtroom. The following pages will …

The Tangled Web Of Plagiarism Litigation: Sorting Out The Legal Issues, Ralph D. Mawdsley

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The purpose of this article is to explore the increasing complexity of plagiarism litigation in the United States. A determination as to when attribution is necessary in order to avoid a charge of plagiarism raises questions of intent and subject matter specific questions of general knowledge, as well as constitutional and contractual questions of fairness, tort questions of defamation, and questions of fair use under copyright law or misrepresentation under the Lanham Act. Most of the reported cases still involve students who contest discipline from their respective academic institutions--discipline that can range from a course penalty to expulsion from the …

Corruption In Education: A Global Legal Challenge, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

In every educational institution, in every country and generation, there is a struggle between corrupt practices and the continuing quest for high ethical standards. An educational institution is poorer if its members engage in corrupt practices. Such misfeasance wastes limited resources, demoralizes participants, and adversely affects productivity. The nature of this corruption is multi-faceted, and observes no geographic boundaries. It exists in every culture.

In some of these cases, educational corruption can be quite subtle. This is true where conduct that is neither criminal, fraudulent, nor a breach of fiduciary duty nevertheless undercuts the moral foundations of the educational enterprise. …

Texts, Lies, And Changed Positions, Judith D. Fischer

Judith D. Fischer

This review of Judge Richard Posner's Little Book of Plagiarism concludes that the book adds to the discussion of plagiarism by noting the topic’s gray areas and proposing criteria for identifying plagiarism. Posner states that plagiarism occurs when a writer who copies another's language or ideas both conceals the copying and induces readers' reliance. By discussing plagiarism in different settings, including novels, court opinions, professors' work, and student work, the book shows why analysis of the offense and its consequences must be nuanced. Professors should be warned that in places Posner seems to minimize the gravity of student copying, especially …

Avoiding Plagiarism In Legal Documents, Judith Fischer

Judith D. Fischer

Lawyers may believe they know what constitutes plagiarism in student papers, but the rules about plagiarism in the practice of law are less clear. Forms from form books and law firm files are meant to be copied, so there is no issue of copyright violation. Still, the lawyer who uses such a form must tailor it to the needs of the specific case. And lawyers have been disciplined for filing documents containing language they copied from treatises without attribution. This problem was exacerbated in one case where the lawyer asked for fees for preparing material he had not written. Professionalism …

Title Page

South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business

No abstract provided.

Nothing New Under The Sun-Plagiarism In Practice, K.K. Duvivier

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The word "plagiarism" comes from the Ltin word "plagiariius," meaning kidnapper, and has been defined as the "purloining of ideas or language from another source. Some law schools have strict tests: if students borrow a unique phrase of two or three words, a string of seven words or more, or a single idea, these students may be guilty of plagiarism.