(A) Plagiarism 

With the availability of Internet, we can instantly copy or share text, pictures and videos. Presenting someone else’s idea or work as one’s own idea or work is called plagiarism. If we copy some contents from Internet, but do not mention the source or the original creator, then it is considered as an act of plagiarism. Further, if someone derives an idea or a product from an already existing idea or product, but instead presents it a new idea, then also it is plagiarism. It is a serious ethical offense and sometimes considered as an act of fraud. Even if we take contents that are open for public use, we should cite the author or source to avoid plagiarism. (B) Copyright Infringement Copyright infringement is when we use other person’s work without obtaining their permission to use or we have not paid for it, if it is being sold. Suppose we download an image from the Internet and use it in our project. But if the owner of the copyright of the image does not permit its free usage, then using such an image even after giving reference of the image in our project is a violation of copyright. Just because it is on the Internet, does not mean that it is free for use. Hence, check the copyright status of writer’s work before using it to avoid plagiarism. (C) Trademark Infringement Trademark Infringement means unauthorised use of other’s trademark on products and services. An owner of a trademark may commence legal proceedings against someone who infringes its registered trademark. 11.4.3 Public Access and Open Source Software Copyright sometimes put restriction on the usage of the copyrighted works by anyone else. If others are allowed to use and built upon the existing work, it will encourage collaboration and would result in new innovations in the same direction. Licenses provide rules and guidelines for others to use the existing work. When authors share their copyrighted works with others under public license, it allows others to use and even modify the content. Open source licenses help others to contribute to existing work or project without seeking special individual permission to do so. Beware!! √ Plagiarism means using other’s work and not giving adequate citation for use. √ Copyright infringement means using another person’s work, without permission or without paying for it, if it is being sold. Activity 11.4 Explore the follouing websites to know about open/public licensing: (i) creativecommons.org for cc, and (ii) gnu.org for GNU GPL Ch 11.indd 237 21-May-19 12:45:19 PM 2020-21 238 Computer Science – Class xi The GNU General public license (GPL) and the Creative Commons (CC) are two popular categories of public licenses. CC is used for all kind of creative works like websites, music, film, literature, etc. CC enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. It is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use and build upon a work that they have created. GPL is primarily designed for providing public licence to a software. GNU GPL is another free software license, which provides end users the freedom to run, study, share and modify the software, besides getting regular updates. Users or companies who distribute GPL license works may charge a fee for copies or give them free of charge. This distinguishes the GPL license from freeware software licenses like Skype, Adobe Acrobat reader, etc. that allow copying for personal use but prohibit commercial distribution, or proprietary licenses where copying is prohibited by copyright law. Many of the proprietary software that we use are sold commercially and their program code (source code) are not shared or distributed. However, there are certain software available freely for anyone and their source code is also open for anyone to access, modify, correct and improve. Free and open source software (FOSS) has a large community of users and developers who are contributing continuously towards adding new features or improving the existing features. For example, Linux kernel-based operating systems like Ubuntu and Fedora come under FOSS. Some of the popular FOSS tools are office packages, like Libre Office, browser like Mozilla Firefox, etc. Software piracy is the unauthorised use or distribution of software. Those who purchase a license for a copy of the software do not have the rights to make additional copies without the permission of the copyright owner. It amounts to copyright infringement regardless of whether it is done for sale, for free distribution or for copier’s own use. One should avoid software piracy. Using a pirated software not only degrades the performance of a computer system, but also affects the software industry which in turn affects the economy of a country. Remember √ CC licenses are a set of copyright licenses that give the recipients, rights to copy, modify and redistribute the creative material, but giving the authors, the liberty to decide the conditions of licensing. √ GPL is the most widely used free software license which grants the recipients, rights to copy, modify and redistribute the software and that the same rights are preserved in all derivative works. Ch 11.indd 238 0