Communications in electronic formats are incredibly easy to manipulate. Generally, you can point your mouse at whole sections of a document, click, and the words and images are now yours to transport and manipulate. As a result, the issues of copyright infringement and intellectual property have become increasingly problematic. The third section of this page provides an overview of the current laws and points to some of the questions that are still being debated. Definitions Plagiarism .
Plagiarism is essentially an academic infringement.
It is the use of another person's words or ideas as if they were your own. Some clear university policies on plagiarism are online from Bowling Green State University . Copyright does not protect ideas or facts, but it does protect the expression of those ideas or facts. Note that not all of these rights apply to all types of production. For more detail, see Usenet news.answers.law Copyright FAQ .