Armenian parliament approves fines for plagiarism in mass media

On September 12, the Armenian parliament approved amendments to the law "On Copyright and Related Rights", according to which facts of non-compliance with the rules of journalistic ethics when using other people's texts by Armenian mass media will be punished with fines.

Under the amendments, when reprinting (reposting) any borrowed material, Armenian media should specify, in the title or in the first sentence of the material, the source thereof in Latin letters with the hyperlink. Besides, when reprinting, only parts (quotes) of the original text should be used, and the text should use the mandatory reference: "See more details on the website of the original."

The whole text of a document can be reprinted only with the consent of the author; otherwise the person who owns the copyright shall heave the right to adjudge a compensation in the amount of 100 to 200 thousand drams (about 8-16 thousand Russian roubles).

Plagiarism in the Armenian media environment is a really serious problem, said Mesrop Movsesyan, Director of the TV Company "A1+". According to his story, the "A1+" is facing the phenomenon on the daily basis.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that editors-in-chief of a number of Armenian electronic media have already formulated the rules of cooperation with each other; and in the event of a violation, after three warnings, the fact of plagiarism will be disseminated over the websites of the collaborating editions.