Copyright refers to the rights of the authors over their literary and artistic works. This legal term protects the owner of their copyrighted work from being infringed by others. Infringement happens when the work of the original authors being used in verbatim without acknowledging the owner’s right. University students are exposed to copyright each day especially in their submission of assignments. Students may directly or indirectly infringed the work of the original authors when they did not properly quote or acknowledge the work of the original authors. Fair dealing is an exception to the copyright infringement as well as a defence in the proceedings involving copyright. Lack of awareness on law relating to copyright among students will lead to plagiarism. This study evaluates whether knowledge of copyright law, awareness of fair dealing and knowledge of fair dealing have effects on the awareness on copyright among students. The approach taken was based on the responses received after the respondents attended a consumer talk focusing on the copyright issues. Findings from the survey shown that knowledge of fair dealing and knowledge of copyright law contribute to the awareness on copyright among students. This paper recommends further research on the type of infringements among students and the causes that leads to such illegal actions.

Keywords

copyright · fair dealing · knowledge · awareness · students