Copyright

Copyright is the right whereby certain products of the mind are protected by law. The Copyright Act (Act 98 of 1978) states that copyright is breached if a person who is not the owner of the copyright in any way reproduces literary or musical works without the owner’s permission. 

South Africa is a signatory of the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. As a member of the Bern Union, South Africa is compelled to ensure that its copyright laws comply with specific minimum requirements.

Copyright occurs when you:

  • perform an action which may legally only be performed by the copyright holder;
  • deprive the copyright holder of income by making illegal or unauthorised copies of a work;
  • create an illegal digital edition of a work and
  • illegally copy artistic works, e.g. images, on the Internet.

Useful Links:

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the reproduction of somebody else’s work or ideas, presenting it as your own without giving recognition to that person. This represents academic or intellectual theft. Writing a sentence in your academic report or writing without a reference or quoting it in inverted commas implies that it is your work or idea. However, if this is not true, you have committed plagiarism – a serious transgression in academic circles. Even when you translate a sentence or part of another author’s work, or if you describe it in your own words (paraphrase), you still have to give credit to that author through an in-text reference and entry in the reference list for that source.

Plagiarism can be prevented using precise textual references and entries in your reference list.

Therefore, Academic report writing requires that all consulted sources be indicated in the text and complete details be given in the reference list.

The Library and Copyright

  • Lecturers can place material on eReserves for students, and the Library staff will ensure that copyright clearance is processed whenever necessary.
  • To arrange training regarding copyright and plagiarism, contact:

Academic Integrity @ the NWU