Protecting Academia From Plagiarism- A Focal View Through Copyright Laws

T.R. Sudarsanan & S. Yamuna, Advocate At High Court Of Madras

ABSTRACT

In general, any person stealing another person’s property is considered as a crime all over the world but when someone’s thought or an expression is stolen by another person then there comes the difficulty before the court of law to prove such crime. Sometimes it is used quite specifically to refer to a specific kind of academic dishonesty. Often the term plagiarism, however, is inappropriately used, as a “blanket term” to cover a wide variety of scholarly malfeasance. This article primarily focuses on various aspects such as the definition of plagiarism with examples and analysis, extent of copying, economic dimensions of plagiarism, ease of plagiarizing and the larger negative dimension of plagiarizing. This paper aims to show that the three conceptions about plagiarism namely theft, fraud, or copyright violation is inadequate and to suggest that, in order to most effectively address plagiarism and combat it, an accurate definition must be given. Further in this paper, I have raised questions with regard to the constituents of plagiarism, the existence/prevalence of plagiarism in educational institutions and society, methods to prevent and reduce plagiarism, the approach of academic institutions toward academic dishonesty in general, and individual differences as predictors of academic dishonesty.

Keywords: Copyright Law, Infringement, Plagiarism, Punishments, Academics.