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JKFiles Plagiarism and Crediting Policy
Last Updated: 14 January 2007
Plagiarism does not stop at copywritten material. Any material that is the intellectual properly of another is considered plagiarism, and JKFiles is making a point to keep plagiarism out. What does this mean for our community? It means you must properly credit any work you use that is the intellectual property of another author.
To help ensure that files are not accidentally or purposely plagiarized, we have instituted a plagiarism and crediting policy which we hope will keep plagiarism out of our little corner of FileFront. This is what you will need with your file for it to be accepted to JKFiles:
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A complete read-me file, with proper credit to all authors you have borrowed material from
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The original read-me file(s) from any borrowed material (included separately in your zip file)
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Proof of permission from the original author if the original read-me requires it
The LucasArts modding policies supercede all of the policies below. To view them, please view this page. All the policies contained therein should be considered official JKFiles policy.
Please be aware that JKFiles is now taking a harsher stance on porting by extending it to texture theft as well as more traditional porting. For more information please read this news article.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the definition of "plagiarism?"
What is the definition of "intellectual property?"
What kinds of things are considered original content and which are not?
Porting? What's that?
Cool! Can I do that?
What about original content from another game?
What about borrowing stuff from other games? They don't have read-mes.
What about textures from other games?
What about porting textures from JO to JA (or vice versa)?
What about music mods? Are they okay?
You rejected my file!
If my file was rejected can I resubmit it?
So what are the consequences for plagiarizing?
What if I can't get in touch with an author to receive permission?
I'm an author and someone plagiarized my work! What do I do?
Q: What is the definition of "plagiarism?"
A: Plagiarism is defined as presenting yourself as the author of someone else's intellectual property.
Q: What is "intellectual property?"
A: Intellectual property is just about anything, as it is an "invention of the mind." For our purposes, this means anything created by an author - original content.
Q: What kinds of things are considered original content and which are not?
A: Original content has to actually be created by the author. This includes things like models, textures, sounds, scripts, maps, and animations, among other things. Some examples of things that wouldn't count as original content would be things like sounds that are ripped from a movie or video game, or any kind of ported material.
Q: Porting? What's that?
A: Porting is the act of taking material from one game and putting it into another with little or no changes.
Q: Cool! Can I do that?
A: No. In most cases ported material is in violation of the original game's End User License Agreement (EULA). As a general rule we will not accept ported material from any game without written permission from that game's developers.
Q: What about original content from another game?
A: We frown upon this, as JKFiles is supposed to be a place for your material, not other people's material. The same criteria apply as above: you will need written permission from the author. Why? Because if it's from a game we're not familiar with we don't know whether it's legal or not. In fact, depending on the read-me we may not know anything about it at all, down to which game it came from. Another reason for this is that most of the time when modders write read-mes they are based on the context of being borrowed/modified within that game. Therefore we think it is a courtesy to inform them their work is being ported.
Q: What about borrowing stuff from other games? They don't have read-mes.
A: You may not borrow any content from another game without permission from that game's developers, as usage of this material would be a violation of the End User Licence Agreement (EULA).
Q: What about textures from other games?
A: While textures may seem to be a trivial thing, they are still ported material just like anything else, and as such you will not be allowed to use them, from another game or from other custom content, without a user/developer's written consent to us.
You may notice we have some maps here with "ported" textures. This is true, and unavoidable for a site this large that did not have this particular rule enforced until just recently. We don't want to punish older authors, as texture "borrowing" was very commonplace several years ago, and even is recently. However since we have made this page, and made a news post about texture theft (which you can find a link to at the top of this page) current authors have no excuse not to know our policy and as such no new material with ported textures will be permitted.
Please do not come to us and complain that your map was rejected while citing examples of work on this site that have ported textures. We will ignore you and simply point you to this page. We are tired of being bothered about this.
Q: What about porting textures from JO to JA (or vice versa)?
You may port textures from Jedi Outcast to Jedi Academy (or from Jedi Academy to Jedi Outcast). We have contacted the LucasArts Legal Affairs department and they have confirmed this. However all texture porting between the two games must still abide by all conditions of the EULA and all other LucasArts legal documentation.
Q: What about music mods? Are they okay?
A: Music mods have become an issue in the past, and as such JKFiles has had to take a far stricter approach to them. You may not use commercially distributed or copywritten music in your music mods, and you may only use freely and legally available music for submission. You must also include a link to the music (to the page you found it on, not directly to the file) to prove that it is, indeed, freely and legally available. No exceptions!
Q: You rejected my file!
A: Hey, that's not a question! JKFiles staff should always inform you why your file was rejected. If for some reason they don't, you can always contact the site administrator to find out why. Your file may be rejected for a number of reasons, but most of them are listed on the Submit a File page.
Q: If my file was rejected can I resubmit it?
A: Certainly! However you should fix whatever problem it had that caused it to be rejected, otherwise it will be rejected again.
Q: So what are the consequences for plagiarizing?
A: We will reject your file and let you know how you plagiarized and how you can correct your error. However if you consistently plagiarize we reserve the right to ban you and/or your IP from the network, so try to remember to give credit where credit is due.
Q: What if I can't get in touch with an author to receive permission?
A: This has come up several times, and after some discussion we decided that if you can prove you tried reasonably to acquire permission, we will post the file. You still must adequately credit the original author and include that file's read-me. "Reasonably" means that you must make a valid effort to get in touch with the author. Sending an e-mail out on Monday and then requesting the file be posted on Tuesday because you could not get in touch with the author won't work. It is also important to note that if the missing author returns at some point and request the file be removed, we will remove it.
Q: I'm an author and someone plagiarized my work! What do I do?
A: The file posters here at JKFiles are only human. We do our best to make sure no plagiarized work is posted, but we occaisionally goof or just don't know every piece of original work out there. If your work has been plagiarized and you wish it to be removed, contact the site administrator or any FileFront network administrator. You must be able to prove the material originally belonged to you. Also provide a link to the plagiarized file, so we can note the author for future reference.
JKFiles Team
This document may be updated and/or amended at any time. JKFiles accepts no responsibility for any consequence of these updates. It is the site user's responsibility to keep up-to-date with it. This policy may be freely used by any FileFront Network site.
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