Is Plagiarism Illegal in Academic Writing?

Although plagiarism carries severe consequences in academic contexts, it is only legally actionable in specific circumstances.

This article discusses the legality of plagiarism, what actions entail legal consequences, and other non-legal penalties that may arise. 

Let’s dive into it.

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Principais conclusões

• While plagiarism itself is not a criminal offense in the U.S., plagiarism cases that  overlap with copyright infringement, fraud, and breach of contract may warrant legal consequences.

• In academic settings, plagiarism violates institutional integrity policies. Depending on the institution and the severity of the violation, consequences range from a failing grade to expulsion to rescinded degrees.

• Of the 5 real cases documented in this article, 4 resulted in revoked degrees, and 2 faced pressure to step down from their careers. The career cost is consistently severe.

• AI-assisted writing in school is not automatically plagiarism, but submitting AI-generated work as your own where assignment policy forbids AI counts as an integrity violation.

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Is Plagiarism Illegal? The Short Answer

While academic contexts typically consider plagiarism a violation of honor or ethics codes, the act on its own is not a legally punishable offense in the United States. Legal consequences typically arise when plagiarism enables other legally actionable offenses, namely copyright infringement, fraud, and breaches of contract. 

However, these overlaps rarely occur in undergraduate academic settings, so the distinction matters more in professional and publishing contexts. 

Plagiarism vs. Copyright Infringement

Plagiarism refers to the act of passing off another source’s work as your own. In contrast, copyright infringement refers to the use of copyrighted material without permission. 

While there is significant overlap between the two offenses, they aren’t completely identical. The main violations of plagiarism are proper attribution and representation of authorship.

Meanwhile, the main violation of copyright infringement is unauthorized use of protected material.

Por exemplo:

• A student reproducing public domain text for an essay counts as plagiarism, but is not copyright infringement.
• A student citing data from a copyrighted journal without permission counts as copyright infringement, but not plagiarism. 

Plagiarism vs. Academic Integrity Violation

Academic contexts typically view plagiarism as a violation of academic integrity policies even when the specific offense violates no laws.

Universities and schools typically prohibit plagiarism and impose disciplinary sanctions more severe than legal consequences would be. 

Examples of academic punishments for plagiarism include:

• Assignment or course failure
• Loss of course credit
• Suspensão
• Expulsion
• Revocation of degree, if the institution discovers plagiarism after the perpetrator graduates
• Revocation of scholarships or other institutional privileges

5 Real Plagiarism Cases (And What Happened)

Punishments for academic plagiarism differ by country, institution, and severity. While many of the consequences fall outside the law, they still caused significant damage to the perpetrators’ reputations and careers. 

Arokiaswamy William Margaret Celine

In 1992, University of the Philippines doctoral student Arokiaswamy William Margaret Celine wrote a dissertation entitled “Tamil Influences in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.”

However, upon the work’s submission, the university committee discovered extensive plagiarism, including passages reproduced verbatim from published sources without acknowledgement.

The investigation concluded with the University of the Philippines withdrawing Arokiaswamy’s doctoral degree. Arokiaswamy challenged the decision, requesting a reinvestigation. The case eventually reached the Philippine Supreme court, which upheld the university’s authority to withdraw Arokiaswamy’s degree. 

Karl Theodore zu Guttenberg

German politician Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg faced public scrutiny when a legal scholar uncovered several instances of plagiarism in his University of Bayreuth dissertation. Investigations revealed that Guttenberg had incorporated multiple passages from outside sources without proper attribution. 

When the investigations concluded, the University of Bayreuth revoked Guttenberg’s doctorate, protecting its integrity as an academic institution. Gutenberg subsequently resigned as Germany’s defense minister and endured long-standing damage to his political career and reputation. 

Pál Schmitt

In 2012, the doctoral dissertation of Hungarian politician and former Olympic fencer Pál Schmitt underwent investigation after allegations of extensive plagiarism surfaced. A review by the Semmelweis University committee discovered that substantial portions of the dissertation reproduced works from other sources without citation.

On the recommendation of the Semmelweis University Doctoral Council, the university revoked Schmitt’s doctoral title. Shortly after, Schmitt resigned as Hungary’s president and endured significant reputational damage. 

Xavier Bettel

Xavier Bettel, incumbent prime minister of Luxembourg, faced plagiarism accusations for a post-graduate dissertation he wrote while a student at the University of Nancy (now part of the University of Lorraine) in France.

A 2021 investigation by Luxembourgian media outlet Reporter.lu discovered that 96 percent of the text reproduced outside sources, including books, newspaper articles, and websites.  

The University of Lorraine’s investigation arrived at a more nuanced conclusion. Rather than assuming malicious intent, it concluded that Bettel’s violation was failing to provide appropriate references, and allowed Bettel to keep his credentials on the condition that he add the missing citations. However, Bettel instead chose to rescind his degree. 

Casey Martin

Casey Martin, a former University of Colorado graduate student, earned his master’s degree by publishing a thesis on the portrayal of the Great Tokyo Air Raid in the 2007 Japanese film War and Youth.

He underwent investigation after Justin Aukema, a fellow student who had written a thesis on the same subject, accused him of copying significant portions of his work. 

Though Martin claimed that Aukema was the party guilty of plagiarism, investigations ultimately identified Martin as the perpetrator, rendering both his thesis and degree invalid. Martin filed a lawsuit against the university, only for the Colorado Court of Appeals to uphold its decision. 

The 5 Consequence Tiers for Academic Plagiarism

Non-legal consequences of academic plagiarism vary by institution, severity, and frequency. Penalties for smaller cases primarily hinder academic progress, while large-scale cases prevent the perpetrator from associating with the institution. 

Assignment Failure

Getting a failing grade is the first rung on the academic plagiarism consequence ladder. It is the most common and typically applies to first or minor offenses. This way, the perpetrator receives a penalty that discourages them from repeating the violations, but still has opportunities to improve their grades.

Course Failure

For more serious or repeated offenses, an institution may assign a failing grade for the entire course. This penalty reflects the severity of the violation and can significantly affect the student’s academic progress and overall GPA.

Suspensão

Suspension is typically the chosen penalty for severe or repeat offenses. Like assignment failure, it discourages future violations while allowing the student to return and complete their studies, although the resulting academic record may make distinctions more difficult to achieve.

Expulsion

Academic institutions reserve expulsion for repeated severe offenses or large-scale plagiarism. It denies the student any chance of earning credentials from the institution, which can also affect their ability to gain admission elsewhere.

Rescinded Degree

If an institution uncovers plagiarism after graduation, it may rescind the perpetrator’s degree. This happens in high-profile cases, typically to protect the integrity of the institution and its academic credentials.

When Is Plagiarism Legally Actionable?

Although plagiarism is rarely a criminal offense on its own, it can still result in legal action when it enables other violations, such as copyright infringement, fraud, or breaches of contract.

Copyright Infringement

When plagiarized work exceeds fair use of copyrighted material, it may constitute copyright infringement. In these cases, the copyright owner may pursue legal remedies, such civil damages, injunctions, and statutory penalties. 

Fraud

Using plagiarized work to fraudulently obtain payments, grants, or credentials may expose a person to legal liability. In these cases, the legal violation is not the plagiarism itself, but the deceit or misrepresentation of authorship. Depending on the amount and jurisdiction, the perpetrator may face criminal charges, civil liability, or both. 

Breach of Contract

Plagiarism can lead to legal action if a plagiarist submits plagiarized material for a contract that explicitly defines originality as a requirement. The non-breaching party may pursue legal remedies, such as damages, injunctive relief, restitution, or contract termination. 

Does AI-Assisted Writing Count As Plagiarism?

AI-assisted writing does not automatically constitute plagiarism. As we previously discussed in our article entitled Is ChatGPT Plagiarism, generative AI models are designed to produce new wording rather than reproduce passages from existing sources.

Since using generative AI outputs does not copy from real authors, it falls outside standard definitions of plagiarism.

However, there are a few exceptions, such as:

• Accidental reproduction: Although instructions for model development aim to reduce memorization and reproduction of training data, models can still reproduce or closely resemble material they encountered during training, particularly when the material appears repeatedly online or contains highly distinctive language.
• Parafraseando: Using generative AI to paraphrase another source’s ideas, frameworks, and data and pass them off as your own counts as plagiarism if you fail to cite the original sources properly. 

Additionally, some institutions and courses have no-AI policies. While submitting AI-generated or assisted work does not count as plagiarism in these contexts, it is still an integrity violation, which warrants penalization.

How to Avoid Plagiarism Risks

Even if you don’t intentionally copy outside sources, poor habits, such as disorganized research notes, improper citations, and generative AI use can lead to academic consequences.

Here are a few tips for avoiding accidental plagiarism. 

Keep a Clean Note-Taking System

The best way to avoid accidental plagiarism is to keep notes organized. Clearly mark quotes and paraphrased passages and attach full source information. This prevents you from mixing up references with original writing. 

Cite Sources Properly

Properly attribute all information from outside sources. Use quotation marks and citations for direct quotes, and citations for paraphrased or repeated information. You can also use a citation generator to format your citations according to your course’s required style.

Run Works Through Plagiarism Checkers Before Submission

Plagiarism checkers like Turnitin, iThenticate, Scribbr, and Queuetext can flag passages that closely resemble existing material. They make it easier for you to identify potential plagiarism before you submit your work, giving you an opportunity to review your sources, add missing citations, and rewrite passages that rely too heavily on the original wording.

Don’t Resubmit Previously Submitted Work Without Disclosure

Reusing work you previously submitted for another assignment can constitute self-plagiarism. Although you wrote the original work yourself, institutions may consider resubmitting it an integrity violation because it allows you to receive credit for the same work more than once without permission.

Perguntas frequentes

Considerações finais

Although academic plagiarism is not criminally punishable on its own, it can still warrant institutional penalties that hinder academic progress or leave lasting damage on the perpetrators’ careers.

As the examples above show, even when no lawsuits occur, plagiarism can result in revoked degrees, public scrutiny, and pressure to withdraw from positions of authority.

Students who use AI to draft or revise can use Undetectable AI as a free and efficient means of removing AI tells. Undetectable AI humanizes AI-assisted writing, protecting work from checkers like Grammarly, Quillbot, and GPTZero.