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Has somebody plagiarised your blog post? 15 essential next steps

   Schoolgirl writing a test and boy looking at her copybook
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   Schoolgirl writing a test and boy looking at her copybook

   Plagiarism.

   For us writers, it’s an ugly word.
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   joy, obviously.

   But is it really plagiarism? And what is plagiarism anyway?

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Plagiarism is an ethical offence, not a legal one

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   I defer, as usual to the OED, which defines plagiarism thus:

   To take, use and/or pass off the thoughts, writings, inventions etc of
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   Notice that it doesn’t say ‘copy’. Nor is the offence reserved
   exclusively for taking writing. You can plagiarise someone else’s
   ideas.

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   ideas.

   Plagiarism is also an ethical offence, not a legal one. There is no
   legal remedy.

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   I found myself in this unwelcome situation recently (of the
   plagiarised, I mean).

   I clicked a link in a fellow copywriter’s tweet to a blog post whose
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   content, style, tone and, in some cases, entire phrases, of my post.

   So, it passed the first part of the plagiarism test. It took my ideas
   and writings.

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   In this particular case I didn’t feel my reputation or commercial
   fortunes were damaged by the plagiarism.

   I had very little to gain for seeking any sort of remedy. And, to be
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   But what about if it happens to you? What then?

15 steps you should take if you think you’ve been plagiarised

   Here are the steps I think you should take if you’re concerned about a
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   Here are the steps I think you should take if you’re concerned about a
   potential act of plagiarism.

   First, get answers to these seven questions:
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   To what extent?

   6 Are you being damaged in any way by the plagiarism (other than
   wounded pride)?

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   The more times you answer yes, the more likely the act is to be
   plagiarism.

   Let’s say you feel you have a case to make. Here are the eight steps
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   Post Comment

    1. Good advice. I once plagiarised an article without realising it. I
       published a press release, which I assumed to be public domain.
       It turned out that the PR person who had written the press release