“It is not cool to copy someone else’s idea. That is plagiarism. It shows that you lack originality.” I once read those words from a classmate’s shirt in my Environmental Science class. The statement was written in a comical manner but it uncovers a perennial issue – plagiarism.
There is a reason why people cannot easily sell the properties of other people in Ebay. Most of them are considered intellectual properties. Stealing other people’s intellectual properties equates to Copyright Infringement. Plagiarism is a less serious form of Copyright Infringement. Wordiq.com defines plagiarism as “the use of another's ideas, information, language, or writing, when done without proper acknowledgment of the original source.” It is more commonly known as the copy-paste method. One can plagiarize different forms of intellectual properties – books, publications, music, software, video games, visual art and movies. It is so rampant in the society that it is very difficult to eliminate this problem even though there are punishments for this case. The penalties for this case are five years imprisonment or a fine of P10, 000,000.00.
The most common forms of plagiarism are committed by students; usually a product of laziness and procrastination. Copying from a dictionary, book, article or any reference material without proper citation of the author is considered plagiarism. A student cannot be sentenced to imprisonment but may lead to dismissal from the institution for it is considered cheating.
When you plagiarize, you are not just stealing another author’s property; it is just like you are stealing a part of that author’s brain. Bear in mind that the work you are stealing is done with hard work and patience. The author’s time, money and maybe even feelings are all attached with the intellectual property. It is better to lack creativity than to lack moral ethics.
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