Academic Integrity Module 2 Copyright Scenarios

EVALUATE THIS! Gibson copies photos from several websites that do not bear the copyright symbol © and includes them in his class presentation slides. He does not need to attribute the source of the photos in his slides as his presentation is only for school use. Is he right or wrong?

Gibson is wrong! This is actually a plagiarism issue, not a copyright one. Although his presentation slides are for educational purposes, Gibson did not take the photos, so he needs to attribute the source of the photos. It doesn’t matter if an image bears the copyright symbol ©, or not. The photo is still automatically covered by copyright. Gibson may use it for his school assignment as long as: The photo is a small portion of the original site Gibson references it properly

EVALUATE THIS! Noor is researching her term assignment and finds a relevant article from an academic journal in the Library that she can use. As she is unable to bring this reference journal home, she decides to make a photocopy of this article so that she can take it home for private study. Is this OK?

This is OK! Noor’s thinking is correct. The Singapore Copyright Act (Chapter 63) stipulates that you can make one copy of an article from a periodical for personal research and private study. For a published work, you can make one copy of not more than 10% of the total number of pages, or one chapter.

EVALUATE THIS! Mark wrote a screenplay for a campus drama production based on several characters from the local film “Army Daze”. As this screenplay is his own creation, he does not seek permission from the film’s producers. Is he right or wrong?

Mark is wrong! He has infringed on the film producers’ copyright as he has made a “derivative work” which is work derived from a copyrighted work. As he is using the characters from a specific film, he needs to seek permission from the creator of the original work to create this “derivative work”.

UNDERSTAND YOUR RIGHTS AND THAT OF OTHERS As shown in those scenarios, there are instances where we can knowingly or unknowingly violate academic codes of conduct and copyright laws. It’s important to know what you are allowed to copy here at NTU, and how that changes when you begin working in a company.