BY: MRS. ALLISON Copyright, Fair use, & Plagiarism
What is Copyright? Copyright is defined as “the exclusive right to produce copies and to control an original literary, musical, or artistic work, granted by law for a specified number of years.” ( What does this mean? In simple words, a copyright is a protection that is put on a book, movie, play, song, etc. which prevents anyone else from using that book, movie, play, song, etc. unless permission is granted by the owner of the copyright. Copyrights last for 50 years after the death of whoever owned the copyright. Copyrights are intended to prevent plagiarism!
What is Fair Use? Fair Use is defined as “the conditions under which you can use material that is copyrighted by someone else without paying royalties.” ( What does this mean? Fair Use allows copyrighted materials to be used by someone without getting permission from the owner of the copyright. Only certain people or occasions allow for Fair Use: Teachers, Critics, News Reporting, Scholarships, Research, and Comment (
What is Plagiarism? Plagiarism is defined as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.” ( What does this mean? Basically this means that you take someone else’s ideas, words, pictures, thoughts, work, etc. and say that it was really your work. You can still use other people’s ideas, words, pictures, thoughts, work, etc. as long as you let everyone know exactly whose work it is. In essence, plagiarism is stealing someone else’s work!
What Have We Learned? Copyrights are protections put on something to prevent other people from using books, movies, plays, songs, etc. without the permission of the owner. The Fair Use Act allows certain people (teachers, researchers, critics, reporters) to use copyrighted material without obtaining permission. Plagiarism is stealing someone else’s ideas and saying that they are yours. Make sure you always give credit to the source of your idea!