Legal and Ethical Team Teach
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is defined as creations of the mind.
To avoid unauthorized use of intellectual property: watermarking, licensing, copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets.
Fair Use and Public Domain
- Fair use: educational use, commentary and criticism, parody, limited reproduction for personal or nonprofit purposes
- Public domain:
- Copyright expires
- Creator explicitly dedicates work to the public domain
- Work is not eligible for copyright
Plagiarism
- When you take content from someone else and present it as your own.
In Computer Science
- Unauthorized use of someone else’s code, algorithms, etc.
- Most common forms:
- Copying code verbatim from other sources
- Modifying code slightly
- Using AI-generated code
Note: Digital portfolios will be checked for plagiarism during the AP exam.
MIT License
- A permissive open-source software license that allows users to copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and even sell copies of the software. It’s simple, flexible, and widely used in open-source projects.
Creative Commons License
- A public copyright license that creators use when they want to give others the right to use their work.
Copyright
Two types of copyright rights:
- Economic rights: Rights to financial benefits from the use of the work
- Moral rights: Non-financial rights but still important, such as the right to claim authorship or prevent harmful changes
Basic Tips to Prevent Copyright Infringement
- Check the copyright license on all online content before use
- Cite any sources used