Copyright and plagiarism (RE: NYTimes.com Article: Moore Foundation funds new journals)

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

I think you're confusing breach of copyright with plagiarism.  Claiming
authorship of something you didn't write is plagiarism; selling or
distributing copies of work to which you do not hold the copyright is a
copyright violation.  A work that is in the public domain may be copied
and distributed without penalty, but that doesn't mean you can claim to be
the author.

Rick Anderson
rickand@unr.edu   
__

> Am I right in thinking that "public domain" is different from free public
> access?  If something is in the public domain there is no copyright in it
> - in US law can that mean that someone can claim authorship of work that
> is not theirs?  In the academic world it matters that work is attributed
> to the right person, even if that person has publicly declared that anyone
> can read it without payment.