Our own understanding of plagiarism and the copyright laws
We're not going to quote or redefine the copyright laws. If you want to learn more about them, check out the site for the copyright office. You already know that plagiarism means copying materials or ideas that are not yours.
However, the rules for our Jewish Writing group go way beyond the accepted laws of copyright and author's rights. By joining Jewish Writing, you accept these rules in addition to any rules of copyright in any jurisdiction.
We are discussing menschlichkeit, the Jewish concept of Hassagat Gvul, and stealing,.
- Menschlichkeit is proper and disciplined behavior that can be expected of a cultured individual such as yourself. We expect this behavior of all subscribers to Jewish Writing. Only those who exhibit the type of behavior that is expected on Jewish Writing will be allowed to continue on the group.
- Hassagat Gvul is invading somebody else's turf. If somebody else writes something, then you have no right to write about the same topic. That means much more than copying the precise words. It gives the first writer the full rights to the concept. our understanding thus goes much further than copyright laws.
- Stealing is not merely taking physical property that does not belong to you. It also means taking or appropriating intellectual property (such as copying documents) that are not yours. It is forbidden by Jewish Law, Halacha, and by civil law.
These concepts have yet another aspect. It's important to be sure that materials are not copied from Jewish Writing and then posted to or published in any other source.
There are thus two aspects to the problem of copyright and plagiarism:
- You can't copy from others.
- Others can't copy from you.
Under some other circumstances in the big world, you may be permitted to copy a certain number of words from a document without asking permission of the author.
This is NOT the case in Jewish Writing. Jewish Writing has no minimum number of words that may be copied without permission from the author. Our own rules forbid you from copying any words at all from any Jewish Writing document.
Exceptions
You may copy some words from any document in the following two cases:
- You may quote a few words from a document in the body of a critique that is published in the Jewish Writing website.
- You may quote a few words from a document in the Jewish Writing Forum.
That is all. There are no other exceptions. Not for any number of words. Not for any circumstances. Not for any special people or publications.
The postings by authors that have been presented on this website have not yet been copyrighted. Some of them may include an implicit copyright (and it doesn't really matter what that means at this stage). You might be able to find a legal workaround to these restrictions. That does not matter.
However, that gives you no right, freedom, or license to copy any, all, or part of a document posted by any author on Jewish Writing. These documents may not be quoted for reviews - for private or educational purposes. They may not be sent to a friend, kept in your own records or files, or used in any other way. They may not be copied at all.
Those who post all or part of their manuscript on Jewish Writing do so with the clear understanding that we are a group of respectable and honorable authors ourselves. We would not want others to "borrow" any of our materials without permission, and we trust each other not to "borrow" all or parts of documents.
It is with this clear understanding that you may continue to enjoy the privilege of participating in Jewish Writing.
Again - so that it will be perfectly clear:
Do not copy any part of any document from Jewish Writing. It's not yours. You have no right to it.
