Plagiarism: Difference between revisions

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''So don't shade your eyes,''<br />

''But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -''<br />

''Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.''|'''[[~~Tom Lehrer (Music)|~~Tom Lehrer]], "Lobachevsky"'''}}

''Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.''|'''[[Tom Lehrer]], "Lobachevsky"'''}}

Plagiarism is essentially taking the work of others and attempting to pass it off as one's own. In academia, it is generally defined as putting forth ideas cribbed[[hottip:*:<sup> Use of the word "cribbed" comes from the fact that plagiarism literally means baby stealing.</sup> from other places and claiming that the writer came up with them -- in other words, discussing facts and theories without proper citation. This can get dicey if the author of a paper or essay happened to come to the same conclusion as a previous writer independently. It can also lead to 'Plagiarism Paranoia', when a student panics over whether they've cited it enough or not. However, around here, we're more concerned with literary plagiarism. For plagiarism used as a plot point, see [[Plagiarism in Fiction]]

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Almost all [[Fan Fiction]] involves some plagiarism and copyright infringement, though most authors turn a blind eye to it as long as it isn't earning the fanfic writer any money (fanfic is of course not copyright infringement if the characters and events are all in the public domain).

It is sometimes debatable if a similar plot, introduced in a different setting and written differently with most of the details changed, still counts as plagiarism. ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' is an example of this, with the first two books having a plot line that is quite similar to ''[[Star Wars]]'' but with many different details and an entirely different setting. Whether or not [[~~Christopher Paolini (Creator)|~~Christopher Paolini]] is actually guilty of plagiarism is [[Serious Business|hotly debated]] between [[Fan Boy|hardcore fans]] and [[Fan Hater]].

It is sometimes debatable if a similar plot, introduced in a different setting and written differently with most of the details changed, still counts as plagiarism. ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' is an example of this, with the first two books having a plot line that is quite similar to ''[[Star Wars]]'' but with many different details and an entirely different setting. Whether or not [[Christopher Paolini]] is actually guilty of plagiarism is [[Serious Business|hotly debated]] between [[Fan Boy|hardcore fans]] and [[Fan Hater]].

On the other hand, a story about a farmboy who rescues a princess and destroys the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Doomsday Device]] is not necessarily plagiarism; if it's different enough from ''[[Star Wars]]'', all you can say is that they both make use of some of the same [[Trope|tropes]] (and, indeed, [[George Lucas]] [[George Lucas Throwback|cribbed from quite a few older sources]]).

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Contrast this with [[Sergio Leone]]'s ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'', which is a frame for frame remake of Kurosawa's ''[[Yojimbo]]'', but set in Spain pretending to be Texas. When Kurosawa saw the film, he wrote to Leone "It is a very fine film, but it is my film." He sued and won, because Leone didn't have permission, didn't give credit, and didn't pay.

Finally, [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|a parody]] is the hardest thing to guard against accusations of plagiarism, because parodies tend deliberately imitate the thing they're making fun of in order to get jokes. In many cases, particularly on the Internet, accusations of plagiarism are avoided simply by sticking a note saying something along the lines of "This is a parody. [work being parodied] is the intellectual property of [copyright holder]" at the top of the story or sidebar of the [[YouTube]] video. This is used by ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series ~~(Web Video)~~|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'' and its [[Follow the Leader|imitators]]. The doctrine that is invoked to protect parodies (and other forms of copying) is called [[Fair Use]].

Finally, [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|a parody]] is the hardest thing to guard against accusations of plagiarism, because parodies tend deliberately imitate the thing they're making fun of in order to get jokes. In many cases, particularly on the Internet, accusations of plagiarism are avoided simply by sticking a note saying something along the lines of "This is a parody. [work being parodied] is the intellectual property of [copyright holder]" at the top of the story or sidebar of the [[YouTube]] video. This is used by ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'' and its [[Follow the Leader|imitators]]. The doctrine that is invoked to protect parodies (and other forms of copying) is called [[Fair Use]].

If a book parodies another work of fiction, there is generally an introduction in which the author clearly states that this is a parody, and explains why they are making fun of the original work. This approach is used in ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'', a parody of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', among others.