AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS COPYRIGHT LAW ON INTERNET MATERIALS

AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS COPYRIGHT LAW ON INTERNET MATERIALS

Abstract

The Larger percentage of undergraduates pay less attention to copyright law or intellectual property, plagiarism, fair use, paraphrasing and how to deal with them especially as it related to internet publications and materials. The research, therefore, aims at appraising copyright law awareness among students on the internet publication among Kwara State University, Malete with the sole objective to know if Internet publications or materials enjoy copyright law or not and to what extent, because plagiarism is a criminal offence in an academic sphere. However, referencing internet publications and materials with appropriate citations is one of the gimmicks used to attribute the originators of ideas used in the course of writing and presentations. Survey research method was adopted coupled with 200 copies of questionnaires that were administered to students of which 193 copies were retrieved. Internet publishing is no more a hidden phenomenon but a concept that has taken a root in this global world of ours. Findings show that substantial numbers of students do not know how to cite or reference internet materials while many did not see reasons to reference it. Students do download, copy, convert, edit some Internet materials or copies such as; pictures, graphics, typography, sounds, music, movies, ringing tones, webpages, documentaries, games, articles, and lots more does not make internet publishing a free source of information without any gatekeeper. Therefore, copyright laws subsist on internet materials usually original. It is essential to sensitise the internet users on what can be copyrighted and what capable of putting them into trouble by organising seminars, conferences and workshop for students. e.t.c