Creating original work is not easy. It takes lots of hard work and passion. For this reason, any kind of creation is considered intellectual property. However, the original creator gets deprive of his work when anyone steals his idea and takes commercial and academic benefits from it.
Even though copyright infringement and plagiarism are both considered as intellectual theft but their implication affects the original creator differently. Due to copyright infringement various businesses and copyright holders lose millions of dollars every year. While due to plagiarism various talented author and artist lose their diligent credit.
For this reason, many people believe copyright infringement and plagiarism are the same things. However, both of these activities are different.
Copyright Infringement vs Plagiarism
The main difference between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism is that copyright infringement is a criminal offense and the penalty for this activity can be fine and imprisonment; while plagiarism is not a criminal offense but it can also be punished by fine, sanction, and suspension.
Comparison Table Between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | Copyright Infringement | Plagiarism |
|---|---|---|
| What is | Using the copyright holder’s work without his permission. | Using another person’s work without attributing anything to it. |
| Loss | Monetary loss | Do not get diligent credit |
| Offense | Criminal offense | Noncriminal offense |
| Common terminology | Piracy, freebooting, and intellectual property theft. | Literary forgery, art forgery, and pseudepigrapha. |
| Punishment | Punished with fine or even jail sentence. | Various sanctions, substantial fines, suspension; even expel someone from school for plagiarism. |
| How to avoid | Taking permission from the copyright holder or license for using the work. | Giving attribution to the source or modify the original work appropriately. |
What is Copyright Infringement?
Copyright infringement is an act by which someone uses a copyright holder’s work without his permission. Generally, the copyright holder can be the creator, publisher, or any business entity that holds the right to reproduce, distribute, and display the work.
Any dispute regarding copyright infringement between two parties can be resolved through litigation in civil court or through direct negotiation. However, the criminal justice system takes over the case when someone does copyright infringement on a large scale.
Copyright infringement is a criminal activity and it is punishable by law. The person associated with this activity can be punished with a fine or even jail sentences. However, the degree of punishment depends on the law of the land and varies upon countries.
Common terminologies associated with copyright infringement are piracy, freebooting, and intellectual property theft. Copyright infringement heavily damages the media industry. Especially those companies are associated with the motion picture, music, and software industries.
Copyright infringement can be avoided if anyone takes permission from the copyright holder to use the work. The publisher or creator may create a licensing program for distributing copyright permission.
There are many Anti-copyright infringement organizations works to stop this illegal practice. Some of these agencies are the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), and Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a process where someone uses another person’s work without attributing anything to it and claims the work as his creation. Plagiarism is an ethical issue and it is considered intellectual fraudulence.
Plagiarism is not considered a legal crime and the original creator of the work cannot sue the person in court for it. However, various academic institutions take strict action against plagiarism. They can put various sanctions, substantial fines, suspension; even expel someone from school for plagiarism.
Plagiarism is very common in academia and journalism sector. Here many people often unintentionally and some time intentionally plagiarized other people’s work. There can be four types of plagiarism. These are direct plagiarism, paraphrased plagiarism, mosaic plagiarism, and accidental plagiarism.
Common terminologies associated with plagiarism are literary forgery, art forgery, and pseudepigrapha. There is no official agency work to prevent plagiarism. However various plagiarism search engines and plagiarism detection tools available on the internet to foil this practice, few of them are Dupli Checker, Copyleaks, PaperRater, Plagiarisma, Plagium, etc.
Plagiarism can be avoided in multiple ways. Giving attribution to the source is one of the best ways to avoided plagiarism. Another way is recreating the original work with proper modification.
Main Differences Between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism
- When someone uses a copyright holder’s work without his permission or license is called copyright infringement. On the other hand, plagiarism occurs when anyone uses another person’s work without giving any attribution to the original author.
- Copyright Infringement is a criminal offense and it needed to be settled in the court. However, plagiarism is not a criminal offense.
- Common terminologies for copyright infringement are piracy, freebooting, and intellectual property theft. While common terminologies for plagiarism are literary forgery, art forgery, and pseudepigrapha.
- Punishment for copyright infringement can be a fine or even jail sentence. But the punishment for plagiarism can be various sanctions, suspension, and a substantial fine.
- Copyright Infringement can be avoided by acquiring a license for using the work from the copyright holder. Similarly plagiarism can be avoided by giving attribution to the original author or modifying the work appropriately.
- Copyright Infringement causes monetary loss to the copyright holder. On the other hand plagiarism does not give diligent credit to the original author
Conclusion
Copyright infringement and plagiarism are both devastating for the economy. In many underdeveloped countries it also causes social unrest. In various part of the world, the copyright infringement run by the organized criminal organization, and cause substantial loss to the government revenue.
On the other hand, plagiarism becomes an obstacle for idea development. It causes deprivation to original thinkers and discourages them from pursuing new knowledge. Both of these practices are immoral and various government and academic institutions demise these activities heavily.
On one hand, various agencies fight copyright infringement like the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), and Entertainment Software Association (ESA). On the other hand various plagiarism detection tools fight plagiarism practices like Dupli Checker, Copyleaks, PaperRater, Plagiarisma, Plagium, etc.
References
- https://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=1006126#page=182
- https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=504523406983878;res=IELHEA
- https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ765670