Archive for the Category ◊ Intellectual Property Law ◊
Originally found this gem in The Chronicle. Digitizing out of print books and making them available on the web- which will win? Utilitarianism or Kantian Ethics?
“An associate professor at a Chinese university has been punished after students reported finding an online test, from another college, that matched an open-book exam in his course.”
Students were able to find a test online that was near identical to the exam they were about to take when they entered class. This lead to complaints from students to the administration. For many students, this would be the equivalent to finding gold. The comments to the article offer a good back and forth on on plagiarism by students. The question I want to ask is, “Is this plagiarism?”
Many courses are now shared through opencourseware, including exams. Even if it is not, a lot of courses are developed off of another. I know that when developing courses, I take this route- researching what’s available, how instructors are teaching an idea, which books are being used, etc. I do, however, change or add to it to account for my knowledge and professional experience. In the extreme case of finding a website that has “everything”, I contact the professor and link to it, giving credit in the course syllabus and on the course webpage where appropriate. Some professors want acknowledgement for their work at every instance, and some don’t.
Another scenario that one often finds is that textbook makers provide quizzes and exams. What if the instructor chooses to simply use only these exams, and the students find the same exams online?
I’m curious to know the original professor’s stance on someone else using his self-created exam in their class. If he or she deems it okay, what of the plagiarism claim? And the punishment?
“Last month the worldwide effort to thwart the illegal copying and sales of video games took a turn to the draconian, with a number of publishers introducing new measures that often seemed to impact legitimate gamers as much as pirates.
France-based Ubisoft rolled out a new form of digital rights management that require players of their PC games to stay online at all times to play. Japan-based Sony tested out a new system that would require people purchasing one of their Playstation Portable games used to pay an extra $20 to play online. And Nintendo, taking a page from the music industry, levied a $1.5 million dollar suit against an Australian for copying their games.”
“The history of publishing is swimming with pirates—far more than Adrian Johns expected when he started hunting through the archives for them. And he thinks their stories may hold keys to understanding the latest battles over digital publishing—and the future of the book.”