Collegiate Copywright Laws

            Violating copyright laws can be the downfall of a collegiate level career, whether it is written documents, images, or videos.

            When it comes to images and videos, most people don’t even bother to ask the original owner if they can use the content. Luckily, most people do not run into legal issues as a result of “stealing” the image or video.

            Others believe that if they list who created it or link the original owner in their work, they are out of harm's way. This is not true. To legally use a copyrighted image or video, you must have permission from the original owner and approval for its intended use.

            When wanting to use an image or video from a website, contact the owner of the site if there is not a name associated directly with the image. If the owner of the site is not the owner of the content that you want to use, they would most likely know who you should refer to in order to obtain permission to use the content.

            If the image you wish to use came from a photographer, you should contact the photographer or the company that took the image(s). According to The UK Copyright Service, when asking for permission to use copyrighted content you should give a full description of the work you wish to use, as well as how you plan to use the work.

            Failure to ask for permission of copyrighted work could result in civil penalties, criminal penalties, and the stolen content could be confiscated from you. According to Legal Zoom, civil penalties could consist of paying damages for the stolen work or even paying legal fees. Criminal penalties could consist of paying fees much like civil penalties, but in addition you would be charged with a crime. When it comes to any content that is even questionable about being copyrighted, you should always ask for permission just to ensure you will not have to face the penalties of violating the copyright.

        When it comes to writing research papers we tend to turn to the internet to search for sources.  Although this may seem more convenient and reliable than going to the library to check out a hard copy source, that may not always be true.

            When research is done on websites, we usually think that by using search engines such as Google or Yahoo to retrieve information we are being “safe” in our research since the information posted comes from a reliable source.  This all depends on whether or not the original authors have consented that the information be posted on the website.  

            These websites that post information, such as articles from journals or books created by others without their consent, are violating their copyrights. Those of us who use this information are encouraging them to continue to do so.  Although search engines receive notices from copyright owners about websites violating these rights they are not always removed. Instead they are placed at the end of the web searches.

            According to the “Wall-Street.Com”, the top five websites reported to Google by copyright owners for violating these rights are filestube.com, isohunt.com, downloads.nl, filesonicsearch.com and torrenthound.com.  These websites provide us with information that is credible, but they themselves should not be counted as a credible source to cite.  This is when we cross the lines of violating the copyrights of the original author’s work, since these websites do not have their consent.

            Copyright laws protect writers from getting their hard work stolen through plagiarism. Anyone who doesn’t respect these laws will find themselves facing some form of punishment. The extent of the punishment is measured by the amount of plagiarism or how often the offender has been caught.

            At DACC, the plagiarism policy is first handled by the teacher. If the teacher decides not to fail your paper or drop you from the class it is their choice, but you probably won’t find yourself so lucky.  The teacher can decide to turn the paper over to be handled by DACC. In the event of this, the following consequences are possible: a firm talking to, written warning, the opportunity to make up the assignment, lower grade or failing grade, be put on probation by DACC, loss of DACC privileges, suspension from DACC, or expulsion from DACC.    

Meet the authors of this post:

Trevor Jennings: I am a DACC freshman, majoring in Business; I am also a DACC baseball player.

Seth McBride: I am a freshman at DACC hoping to receive my Associates in writing, and transfer to a University to receive my Bachelors 

Rosi Perez: I am currently a sophomore at DACC, majoring in Early Childhood Education.

Davida Haas: I am a freshman at DACC, currently majoring in Business.

        We chose Copyright laws to show others the proper way to use images, videos, and written documents. We chose this topic because it is something every college student should know and come to respect. Our topic can also be used to clear up any misunderstandings of how to borrow someone else's work, without actually taking it as your own.