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Licensing Guidelines
Plagiarism
Copyright Ownership Copyright Use Tutorial


What is the difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism?

Generally speaking, a copyright holder has the exclusive rights to reproduce, display, transmit, perform, and modify a work as well as the right to publicly perform a sound recording by digital transmission. There are exemptions in the copyright act that provide for certain exceptions to those exclusive rights, many in favor of limited nonprofit educational purposes.

If none of the exemptions apply, the proposed use of someone else's copyrighted work will probably be copyright infringement. If proper attribution is required and is missing, the proposed use will also be plagiarism. For example, quoting extensively from a book without the copyright holder's permission would likely be copyright infringement. Extensive quoting without permission and without attribution would be infringement and plagiarism.

Similarly, extensive quoting without permission but with attribution would not be plagiarism but would still be copyright infringement. Conversely, extensive copying with permission but without attribution would be plagiarism but not copyright infringement.

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