Copyright Usage and Plagiarism

Have you heard Pink Floyd's song "Time"? Unfortunately this song got me into deep trouble when I was only 12 years-old. My English teacher at the time had assigned us students to write 3 different types of poems. We were required to write one haiku, one cinquain, and one free verse. I struggled with writer's block and procrastination, but managed to complete the haiku and cinquain before class ended. The teacher allowed us to complete any unfinished work as homework that night. However, at that age I was far more interested in playing basketball after school with my friends. It wasn't until I was eating breakfast the next morning that I suddenly remembered I still needed to complete the free verse poem before my first class of the day. My older brother happened to be playing one his favorite Pink Floyd albums as I munched on my Captin Crunch. The song that was playing on his record player was"Time". I found the lyrics mesmerizing and the music hypnotic. It was ironic that the song was about time since it was the essential thing that I lacked. In one fell swoop I made the terrible decision to plagiarize the following lyrics: "Ticking away the moments that make up the dull day. You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way. Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown, waiting for someone or something to show you the way. Tired of laying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain. You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today. Then one day you find, ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run. You missed the starting gun." To me it sounded like the perfect free verse poem and I didn't fear that my teacher would know it wasn't my own work. I figured she was too old to listen to Pink Floyd. With a bit of guilt for cheating, and a bit of a sense of relief for completing the assignment I handed it in when I entered the class room. The next day we received our poems back. The haiku and cinquain were marked with corrections and suggestions. The free verse only had the words "please see me" written at the top. After class I trudged towards my teacher's desk with thoughts of possible expulsion running through my head. To my surprise the teacher informed me that she was delighted with my "Time" poem. In fact she said she was so impressed that she would like my permission to enter it in a poetry contest. My relief quickly turned to fear. It was one thing to fool a teacher, it was another thing to fool the other people. She quickly added that I could have a day to think it over. That night I did not get much sleep as I played many scenarios though my head. By morning I knew that I had to come clean. I made an effort to arrive extra early at school in order to talk with my teacher before class began. I took a deep breath and swallowed hard as I approached her desk. I then told her the truth about plagiarizing the lyrics of the song. It was quite scary yet cathartic for me to tell the truth. However, she seemed unfazed by my confession. She simply and calmly said that she appreciated my honesty, but that she was deeply disappointed and that in addition to informing my parents about the situation I would receive an F for the assignment. In hindsight it is obvious that the teacher knew that it was not my work and was just giving me an opportunity to admit it. It was a lesson that I will never forget and that I often share with my students to try to discourage plagiarism on all levels. That incident took place over 20 years ago. Today it is very far easier for someone to steal other's work by simply clicking their mouse a few times to copy/cut/paste or download a picture or song illegally. However, just because something is easy or even prevalent (in the case of illegal downloads through programs such as Napster) does not make it right. Checking for plagiarism has also become much easier with sites such as Plagiarism Checker.Com. Copyright laws were first written to not only protect the intellectual property of the author, but also to promote academics. At some point they have become something to fear in more litigious societies such as America. Copyright laws vary from country to country, and in many cases they are open to interpretation. In Thailand there is a lot of leeway for educators to use copy written material for educational purposes. However, that should in no way be interpreted that teachers have carte blanche when it comes to this issue. We need to ask ourselves if using other people's work without permission is truly necessary and morally responsible. Fortunately there is plenty of access to great resources that fall under the Public Domain category. There is also an emerging gray area which falls between copy right and free domain. Take a look at Creative Commons to find information and resources in the gray area. Copy written material may be used if it passes the Fair Use test. According to copyright article on Wikipedia, the following 4 factors to be considered if copyrighted materials can be used:

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 substantially 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.