Regent University - Christian Leadership to Change the World

Intellectual Property:
If you didn't create or think of something first, you should be sure to seek licensure or properly credit the bearer of the Intellectual Property rights. We are all somewhat familiar with plagiarism, copyright infringement, trademark violations, patent infringement, and yes, even digital copyright infringement. Though this list is not comprehensive, you get the point. If you have questions about the origin or ownership of something you plan to use, make sure that it's not aleady another's protected work. Even ideas are protected so take care that you don't use something without properly licensing use, crediting the true source, or violating another's legal protections.

The Regent University community of teachers and scholars affirms that the biblical principles of truth and honesty are absolutely essential. Indeed, the Bible contains numerous admonitions against false witness, dishonesty and cheating. Upholding the standard of academic integrity with its reliance on honesty is a responsibility of both faculty and students. Conduct that violates academic integrity includes, but is not limited to:

1. Dishonesty. This is lack of integrity exhibited through lying, cheating, defrauding or deceiving. Examples of dishonesty include: copying from the examination paper of another, allowing one's own examination paper to be copied, reading without the instructor's consent a copy of the examination prior to the date it is given, giving or receiving unpermitted aid on a take-home examination, class assignment, project and other papers; use of unauthorized aids; submitting the same work product in more than one course without the express permission of the instructor(s); or disclosing or accepting information if one takes a test at a different time than other students in the same course.

2. Plagiarism. This is stealing or using the ideas, writings or images of another as one's own. It involves failure to acknowledge material copied from others or failure to acknowledge one's indebtedness to another for the gist of important thoughts in a formal statement, written or oral. Charges of violating academic integrity shall be handled according to established student discipline procedures published in the Catalog and the Student Handbook. (Academic Council, Approved January 1994)

According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to 'plagiarize' means:

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
• to use (another's production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

At Regent, we have licensed a software application called Turnitin. This application let's our staff and faculty evaluate our students' submissions. To find out more about how this works visit our Help Desk online resources or the application vendor at turnitin.com.

There are many different file sharing applications available for use over the Internet. When you choose to use one of these, be sure that it shares your music, video and other files legally. In most cases, you should be required to pay a fee to 'swap' files. An obvious sign that you are violating copyright is if you are not paying to download new files or share files you have already acquired. Examples may include KaZaA, Gnotella, Limewire, and Morpheus.

You should also understand that having these kind of applications on your personal pc may allow other users to connect directly to your pc. This is an extreme security risk. Further, if you install these kind of applications on your University owned workstation or laptop you are violating Regent policy. By allowing others to connect to a Regent workstation or laptop, you expose the University network to unnecessary security risks. As such, violation of this or other University policies may lead

• United Stated Copyright Office
• Regent University Library Guidance on Copyright Issues
• Campus Copyright Rights and Responsibilities