Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Plagiarism consequences in the real world?

An article relating to plagiarism charges against Mary Burke begins:


“I will make it my personal mission to give you an F and get you expelled from the University of Wisconsin,” stated one of my professors as he outlined his policy on plagiarism and cheating. His rationale behind this logic is that in the real world, taking someone else’s ideas as your own would not be tolerated, and it can have much more severe consequences than just a failing grade. In the real world, consequences include locking one in jail and tossing away the key.

Take the smartphone industry for example. In 2012, Apple decided to sue Samsung for patent infringement. After two years of fighting in the courts, Apple won the case, and as a result Samsung had to pay Apple $929 million to make up for their cheating. All of this goes to show that cheating is not worth it, and that there are real consequences to stealing someone’s work whether it is patent infringement or plagiarizing.



Taken from College Republicans: Burke’s plagiarized plan makes election choice simple

One recalls that Joe Biden, currently Vice-President, copied without attribution from law review articles for a paper at Syracuse Law School, did get an F but was not expelled, and went on to a lengthy career.

As to the reference to "929 million," note the text


Because of a quirk of design patent law, however, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple all of the profits associated with the products that contained these designs — no matter the import of the designs, their relative contribution to Samsung profits, or any effect on Apple. Samsung’s penalty totaled $929 million, the sum now under appeal.



from Forbes Apple v. Samsung Highlights Unfinished Work In The Patent Reformation

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