Subject: Plagiarism From: "William J. Rapaport" Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:45:23 -0400 (EDT) A student writes: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I was going through all the links for the Plagiarism assignment (which I passed afterwards). Reading it all made me think a lot. I mean, the essence of it all, i.e., giving credit where it is due, is indeed good. But, will there be no cases where someone has, say, "re-invented the wheel"? (of course, he would have to be living under a rock his whole life, but this is just me metaphorically speaking). I mean, someone could have undergone a similar experience as the original inventor (i.e. walk a lot everyday as a member of some remote jungle tribe). What if he observes an act of nature (beetle rolling dung?) and comes up with an idea (of wheel). Would that not be his original idea? Well, I guess its getting a bit too off track. What I was saying is that, how can anyone know if the idea that they have has not been already materialized? If I had a unique idea, I would not go around telling people about it and then asking them if someone already came up with it. I would first give form to it, then publish it or something. But if, while doing so, people tell that I am plagiarizing someone else's idea, it would be quite a situation. I mean, its not like every person knows if someone else has done the same thing or not I don't think the whole "people who write papers" society is connected worldwide. What I would have developed as my own, sitting in my own country, when presented elsewhere, might seem like me plagiarizing something. Even if I know I should do some research and find out if someone has already come up with it, I would rather not, so that my thought process on the said idea is not tampered by the claims of someone else. Maybe I make a movie story and in the end it happens that long long ago in some archives in a far away land, it has already been made and stored, will my work be un-original then? Basically, if someone thinks of it before me, (by being born early, or maybe by being a quicker thinker) will that make me any less of an honest intellectual? Sorry if the mail came out to be very in-coherent, I was writing my feelings after doing that, extempore. Hope you find time in your busy schedule to answer the ramblings of an over-thinking kid." Reply: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ These are all excellent points. The crucial difference between having the same (or similar) *ideas* and having the same (in the sense of plagiarized :-) *words* is exactly what copyright is all about. You cannot copyright ideas, only the *expression* of ideas. So, two people can have the same idea, but if one of them writes it down using certain words, then the other person cannot use those very same words without giving credit to the first person. For more on copyright, see: "Can computer programs be copyrighted? Or patented?" http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/584/c-vs-pat.html ======================================================================== Subject: Plagiarism From: "William J. Rapaport" Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2010 14:19:23 -0400 (EDT) The student who wrote about plagiarism responds: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Ah, in that case... I guess it will be hard to separate an impostor from a legitimate intellect. But I guess, when in direct competition for the claim, it can easily be proven who is real and who is impostor. If only the impostor doesn't make the claims in another part of the world. ( I guess that's what happened in the old days when people traveled and returned home. In a time with no letters, telephone and internet, it might have been very easy to fool people). BTW, The comics at the link, including the ones on IP, reminded me of this recent Dilbert strip. http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/00000/0000/100/100158/100158.strip.gif"