# Plagiarism - illegal or just unethical?



## CAA (14 Aug 2008)

Can anyone tell me if one would have any legal case against a person/institution if their work was plagiarised by that person/institution or is this strictly an ethical issue? 

In the specific instance I am enquiring for the plagiarised work is a doctoral dissertation filed in a university library in the United States in which over 25 pages were copied and pasted vebatim into a government report in Ireland. The author of the doctoral dissertation is not credited for the work appearing in the government report so it seems to be a clear case of plagiarism, but I can't tell if plagiarism is actually illeagal or just considered rude/unethical.

Thanks for any insight.
CAA


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## mathepac (14 Aug 2008)

I think this might fit into the area of intellectual property right infringement and may even be copyright infringement.

There is a sentence that says something like "The moral right of the author(s) has been asserted" that appears in commercially published works now, but I'm unsure of its applicability to acedemic dissertations.

Whether its a legal issue or not, it sounds astonishing that this was perpetrated in a Government paper without even citing a source.


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## Caveat (14 Aug 2008)

I don't know - but I'd be very surprised if it couldn't be successfully pursued.

Equivalent or similar actions certainly can e.g: 'passing off'; infringement of copyright; intellectual theft/music rip-offs etc.

_Edit: crossed with mathepac_


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## DrMoriarty (14 Aug 2008)

The author certainly has grounds for a formal complaint, but [broken link removed] suggests that there may not be a case to be answered in law, unless the work was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office:



> Your thesis or dissertation is automatically covered by U.S. copyright law (Title 17, United States Code) at the time of its creation, i.e. when it was fixed in some tangible form. This automatic protection gives you the right to go to court to stop someone from making copies of your work without your authorization. However, if you also want the right to sue for damages beyond regaining legal fees, you will need to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office. When the copyright icon [ © ] appears on a work, it implies that the work has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and is subject to this greater protection. *Authors of dissertations and master theses personally can file for copyright registration by obtaining the forms from the U.S. Copyright Office website*. Because the United States is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work, an international agreement about copyright, your U.S. copyright is also recognized by almost every country in the world.


 
More here.


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## Welfarite (14 Aug 2008)

mathepac said:


> Whether its a legal issue or not, it sounds astonishing that this was perpetrated in a Government paper without even citing a source.


 
I'd say it was a Govt. report written by some "consultant" or other contracted party who robbed the excerpt and passed it off as their own work. This type of thing, especially with dissertions and the like, must happen all the time adn there muct be case histories somewhere about legal outcomers, etc.. of sueing.


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## CAA (14 Aug 2008)

Wow! That's all really great information. Thank you! 

Unfortunately, I opted out of filing the additional personal copyright when I filed the dissertation in the United States although now I am wondering if it's not too late for me to go ahead and do it. It's fantastic to know at least that it is protected under US copyright in general as it gives me a bit of clout to fall back on. I will definitely quote that text.

The party to blame is actually a former colleague at said Irish government institute. I guess he figured since I was no longer working there, I wouldn't notice if he published my work under his name. Pity he was dumb enough to copy it word for word..

Any more info on what my legal rights are in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

CAA


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## emerald lass (14 Aug 2008)

CAA - same thing happened to me with my MA thesis! (mine was completed n the UK and used by an Irish state body) but given that I was still a poor student at the time making a living from badly paid research jobs, I didn't have the funds to pursue it.

I do believe it happens regularly, and often the original authers are not even aware, of if they are they are in a similar situation to the one I was in and can't afford to do anything about it.


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## Complainer (22 Aug 2008)

Definetly make a formal complaint to the CEO so that at a minimum, his colleagues know what he is up to.


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## rmelly (22 Aug 2008)

Welfarite said:


> I'd say it was a Govt. report written by some "consultant" or other contracted party who robbed the excerpt and passed it off as their own work.


 
Is this speculation, or do you have additional information that isn't posted here? I haven't seen anything to suggest this.


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## WaterSprite (23 Aug 2008)

In the US, unless the copyright is registered, you cannot claim for statutory damages (but can still get an injunction to stop a copyright infringement).  Once you register, you can claim for statutory damages after the date of registration.  There are other benefits to registering copyright (see http://www.copyright.gov/ for US copyright info) but it is not required for the work to be protected.

Regardless of US law, the work is also covered by copyright in Ireland (as a signatory to the Berne Convention), which does not have the requirement to register in order to sue for damages.  Also, in Ireland, unlike the US, there is no "fair use" exception.

OP, where are you based now?  If you are in the US and the infringement was in Ireland, then dealing with it outside the courts would probably be the more realistic option, unless you want to get into multi-jurisdictional enforcements.  If you do write to a boss or other person within the (alleged) infringer's organisation, be very careful what you say as you don't want to inadvertently fall foul of libel laws.  I'd write to them (to the boss) quoting the offending passage and quoting directly from your work and ask what was the source of the information that they published. I'd imagine that will do the trick and, if the chap did plagerise your work, then he'll be in big trouble after that.

I don't know if there are special terms attaching to a thesis mind you - I think that universities retain the right to publish and copy theses and that would be in the terms (if any) you signed with the university, but if you send a letter as above, the govnt body should be able to answer the question if they did get the material under a license through the university.

I agree that you should not let this go - too many times on the web have I seen wholesale cut and pasting by people passing off really useful information as their own, which the original author clearly put a lot of work into.

Bottom line to answer your initial question- copyright infringement is illegal, not just unethical. 

Sprite


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