Quotations in Academic Works

The permissibility of quotations in academic works may be discussed and examined from different perspectives: a copyright perspective (which focuses on the conflict between quotation and infringement of copyright) and an ethical perspective (focusing on the issue of academic reliability). This article contains analysis of the legal status of quotations in the light of Polish Copyright Act of 4th of February 1994, in particular, the prerequisites of the right to use quotations established in Art. 29 of the above act. In a nutshell, it may be concluded that copyright law permits one to quote from other works without the establishment of strict rules and restraints (especially quantitative) in this respect. A flexible approach has been adopted: the permissibility of a quotation is subject to its adequacy for its specific purpose of revealing an explanation, critical or scientific analysis. There are no specific requirements regarding quotations in academic works. These works are specific in that their character and function permit quotes to a greater extent than in other categories of works.

Scientific plagiarism and punishable plagiarism – de lege lata considerations from the perspective of the constitutional requirement of specific features of the type of a prohibited act

Scientific work, as a “form of expression” of a scientific finding, is the result of a creative, but relatively standardized work of the scientist. This “form of expression” is protected under copyright law. Nevertheless, in the scientific community it happens that this is used not in accordance with the principle of fire use, i.e. fair borrowing. On this basis, the phenomenon of scientific plagiarism is born. However, there is a serious difficulty in distinguishing between these scientific plagiarisms, which can be understood as scientific misconduct (scientific fraud), from punishable ones under Art. 115 paragraph 1 of the Act on copyright and related rights. Not all scientific plagiarism is punishable plagiarism under this Article. Nevertheless, the current formula of the statutory hallmarks of this act is so elastic that it becomes a problem to distinguish the protected elements of a scientific work from those elements which are not protected from the point of view of copyright as well as criminal law. In turn, such a state of affairs may contribute to the weakening of the principle of nullum crimen sine lege certa and stricta, and thus to interference with the freedom of scientific activity under Art. 73 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.