Education is big business today. With the explosion of the Internet, more and more people are pursuing advanced education. It has never been easier to earn your bachelor's or master's degree. The plagiarism business has also become a big business. In this article I will discuss how Brenau University defines plagiarism and what some potential punishments are for intentional and unintentional plagiarism as a Brenau University student. I will also explain how student attitudes toward plagiarism can impact intellectual property in the general U.S. business environment. Finally I will examine how as a manager, in my company, these attitudes can lead to damaging your company's competitive advantage. Bergmann explains that “plagiarism involves two types of errors. Using another person's ideas, information, or expressions without acknowledging that person's work constitutes intellectual theft. Passing off another person's ideas, information, or expressions as one's own in order to get a better grade or gain some other advantage constitutes fraud” (Bergmann, 2010). The Brenau University Student Handbook defines plagiarism as “Plagiarism is the act of taking the words or ideas of another and representing them as one's own” (Brenau Student Handbook). The punishment for the crime of plagiarism can vary depending on the student's intentions and the level of plagiarism. At Brenau University, the minimum sanction that will be adopted in the event that proven examples of plagiarism are found is that the assignment grade will be zero. In subsequent cases the punishment will be increasingly costly for the student convicted of this crime until he or she fails the course and is even expelled from school. In my opinion these steps are necessary to protect the academic integrity of the institution and validate the degree awarded by the institution. Students can purchase papers on any topic on the Internet, sometimes very cheaply. If it goes undetected, the student may think plagiarism is okay and continue to take ideas without, in the student's opinion, any consequences. Universities are a training ground and it is their duty to discourage and prevent students from taking this path. If unsupervised and the student, now a graduate, enters the corporate environment with these attitudes, this could become costly for the company that employs the person and for the company itself. Stealing ideas can be considered copyright infringement and subject the individual or organization to legal action.