The Law of Plagiarism:

College and university rules for student conduct sometimes say that plagiarism is an academic offense, not a legal offense. That statement is not correct.

Colleges, universities and professional entities certainly have the authority to punish plagiarists in various ways, including expulsion from the college or revoking a degree earned in part by plagiarism. But plagiarism is also a legal issue.

What is plagiarism? In minor cases, it can be the quotation of a sentence or two, without quotation marks and without a citation (e.g., footnote) to the true author.

In the most serious cases, a significant fraction of the entire work was written by someone else: the plagiarist removes the true author(s) names(s) and substitutes the plagiarist's name, perhaps does some re-formatting of the text, then submits the work for credit (e.g., term paper or essay) or as part of the requirements for a degree (e.g., thesis or dissertation), or even as a professional/personal concern (e.g., article, blog entry, news item, etc.).

Student Plagiarists

Napolitano

In January 1982, Gabrielle Napolitano, then in her senior year at Princeton University, plagiarized the majority of her 12-page term paper in a Spanish class from a book in the library. While she did cite the book in five footnotes, she did not include citations in the text for some paraphrased material and she did not include the indicia of quotations for numerous verbatim quotations. The professor was familiar with the book and immediately recognized the
plagiarism. The Princeton University Committee on Discipline, in February 1982, unanimously found Napolitano had plagiarized and recommended punishment of delaying her bachelor's degree for one year. Napolitano sued and the judge recommended that Princeton give her a rehearing. The Committee on Discipline gave her a rehearing in May 1982 and again unanimously found her guilty of plagiarism and – with one abstention among the eight votes – again recommended that her degree be withheld for one year. The trial court held that the evidence supported Princeton's finding that Napolitano had plagiarized, and the appellate court affirmed. Napolitano v. Princeton Univ., 453 A.2d 279 (N.J.Super.Ch.Div. 1982), aff'd 453 A.2d 263 (N.J.Super. 1982).