Glossary of Legal and Academic Terms
(From UTEP’s Academic Integrity policies/Student Code/University Writing Center, and U.S. Copyright Office)
Author: (copyright.gov) The author of a work is responsible for its creation. Normally, the author is the person who actually creates the authorship being claimed. The only exception occurs when authorship is created as a work made for hire. In this case, the employer is considered the author, not the employee who created the authorship. (See linked webpage for information on works made for hire). The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author.
Copyright: (U.S. Copyright Law) Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S.Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.
A Copyright (From U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) protects works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed.
Copyright Infringement: (U.S. Copyright Law) violating any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, that is, the exclusive right: to reproduce the work in copies; To prepare derivative works based upon the work; To distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; To perform the work publicly; To display the copyrighted work publicly; In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
Collusion: (UTEP student code policy) Unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing academic assignments.
Digital Commons: (Google dictionary) are a form of commons involving the distribution and communal ownership of informational resources and technology.
Fair Use: (U.S. Copyright Law) Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances…the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Freeware: software that is available free of charge.
Open Access: (from PLOS (Public Library of Science)) Open Access (OA) stands for unrestricted access and unrestricted reuse.
A Patent (From U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) is a limited duration property right relating to an invention, granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in exchange for public disclosure of the invention.
Paraphrasing: (from UTEP's Writing Center) rewriting information from a source in your own words, shorter than original, useful to cover information from your source more broadly.
Plagiarizing: (UTEP Academic Integrity policies):
-Using someone’s work in your assignments without the proper citations
-Submitting the same paper or assignment from a different course, without direct permission of instructors
(UTEP English Department Plagiarism Policy): Plagiarism is defined as the use of another person's ideas or words without giving proper credit. Plagiarism occurs whenever a student quotes, paraphrases or summarizes another person's work without providing correct citation. Plagiarism occurs whether the work quoted is a book, article, website, reader's guide like Cliffs Notes or SparkNotes, another student's paper, or any other source. An entire essay is considered fraudulent even if only a single sentence is plagiarized.
Public Domain: (U.S. Copyright.Gov Definitions) The public domain is not a place. A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.
Quoting: (from UTEP's Writing Center) directly inserting material from your source into your writing, replicates source exactly, keeping original wording is essential to analyze it or support an argument, less than 10-20% of your writing should be quotes.
Summarizing: (from UTEP's Writing Center) describing the content of a source in your own words, shorter than original, useful to cover information from your source very broadly.
A Trademark (From U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
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