One of the most difficult parts of teaching is making sure that students get it into their heads that plagiarism is wrong.I am known to have thrown bitch fits when i have discovered chunks of projects from the net. ‘you will lose your job’ i tell them, ‘no one will hire you’, ‘it is stealing’ …….

But, at the back of my mind I know that - the message may not get through. After all this is a country where people attain success through blatant lifting of ideas, music, formats and other rights. There seems to be no penalty, only successes. Although recent cases give hope to the notion of ownership of copyright, the bulk of the times copyright is taken as the right to copy

So, it is hardly surprising that the Hindustan Times got the wrong definition of copyright when they used Nita’s picture without attribution, or permission or payment.

I wonder what i should tell my students the next time someone decides to pass on someone else’s work as their own ! It’s ok, the HT will hire you, it seems to be company policy !!

Tags: Copyright, Hindustan Times, India, Indian Media, Intellectual Property, Media, Media Ethics