Plagarism

[Kalius]

I'm posting this here since it mostly affects the guides section, i apologize if it should go someplace else.

Recently, there has been a few problems with plagarism, which Minty has been dealing with. i thought i'd take the time to make things clear.

this is taken from Gamefaqs, a site that deals with many guides.

What is Copyright?
While there are basic laws that protect tangible property, Copyright protects intellectual property, such as artwork, writings, and computer programs, that often do not have a tangible nature of their own. Copyright does not protect ideas, but the expression of those ideas. Copyright also does not protect facts, but only the creative expression of those facts

What is Fair Use

Per the US Copyright Office, the Fair Use doctrine of copyright law states that limited portions of a copyrighted work may be used for commentary, criticism, reporting, and educational purposes. While the circumstances of what is and isn't Fair Use are never clearly defined, using major portions or the entirety of someone else's work does not fall within Fair Use. Additionally, competing works are normally excluded from any "Fair Use" at all.

For example: You are probably well within your fair use rights to quote text from a game; it's a limited amount of information, you are using the information for a different purpose, and you're not creating a competing product. However, if you were to quote text from the official strategy guide for the game, this likely is not considered Fair Use, as you are creating a competing product. Someone who posts a copy of your guide on another site and claims it's "Fair Use" is clearly in the wrong.

What information can I use from other sources without permission?
Without permission, you are still free to use facts and other non-creative information. Of course, you still must provide credit to the source of information in your own guide; if you don't, you are plagiarizing.

For example, you could get the hit points for the enemies in a game from the official strategy guide for that game and post them in your own guide in your own format. These are facts, and not protected by copyright. However, if you were to copy the guide's strategy on how to beat the boss, that would be a copyright infringement, as you are copying their creative work. Copying the format of the table of hit points would also be a violation of their copyright.

What is Plagiarism?
Simply put, plagiarism is the taking of information from a source and claiming it as your own. If you read a boss strategy in another guide and re-create in your own words, if you don't credit the original source of the information, you're plagiarizing.

Copyright infringement is not always plagiarism, and plagiarism is not Copyright infringement. One is a legal matter, the other is an ethical matter. Both should be avoided at all costs when creating your guide.

How do I Copyright my FAQs?
Thanks to modern laws, your FAQ is protected by Copyright law the instant it's published online. For your own protection, you should also always include a one-line copyright notice in your work: Copyright (year) (your name)

For example: Copyright 2002 John Doe.

You should not include the phrase "Unpublished Work" in your guide, as once it's been made public, it's been published. Also, you should always use your legal name instead of an alias in your copyright notice, unless you have actually registered that alias as a business name with the local government. If you use an unregistered alias, proving your ownership of the document could be difficult should it become necessary.

Do I have to register my FAQ with the US Copyright Office?
Registration is not required for protection under the law; if someone decides to post your guide online or print it in a magazine, you can still demand that it be removed or negotiate for compensation outside of court. However, in order to bring the person who misused your copyright to court, you must first register your guide with the Copyright Office.

Registering your guide before any violations take place or within three months of initial publication also gives you the right to sue for punitive damages in court. Otherwise, you can only collect actual damages (i.e. any profits made from the unauthorized use of your work).

The entire section can be found here, http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/help/entry.html?cat=29

So, if you write it without help, that's fine, but if you copy it from someone else, give them credit.
And don't get all offensive if you are accused of plagarism like some people(who I shall not name)