Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
A Guide/Rant by a Tired Writer

It’s 2023.

And I’ve reached a point where I can’t be quiet about this issue anymore.

Plagiarism.

And copyright infringement.

It’s 2023. We are living in the digital age whether you like it or not. AI art now exists. NFTs have been invented. DRM is more prevalent than ever. And it is crucial that content creators and consumers understand how to navigate this nuanced digital world.

Sadly, there is a lack of comprehension in regard to the ownership of created content. A lot of people throw terms like “plagiarism” around without knowing what it truly means. At the same time, not enough people know what copyright infringement is.

I have experienced this ignorance firsthand. Being a writer, it’s awful having my boundaries crossed because people are either uneducated or indifferent in respecting them. This disrespect is why I’m writing this post.

Although I’ve wanted to rant about this subject for so long now, a rant would be ineffective. At least, a rant is ineffective on its own. I will be ranting, but I will also be explaining—in depth—what plagiarism and copyright infringement are.

There’s so much that I want to talk about, so this blog post will be divided into three main parts as bolded:

1. Understanding plagiarism and copyright infringement
   1. Plagiarism
   2. The so-called “converting” of stories
   3. Copyright infringement and fair use
   4. Summary
2. My personal experiences
3. Moving forward
   1. As a writer, what can you do?
   2. Readers, please respect writers
4. Closing thoughts

This will be very comprehensive (this entire post is over 4,000 words long), so be forewarned!

Note that plagiarism and copyright infringement are complex subjects. I will only discuss these subjects in the scope of written work. I will not discuss music, videography, or photography—only written work.

1: Understanding plagiarism and copyright infringement

You can skip to section 1d for a brief summary on the differences and similarities between plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Otherwise, enjoy my detailed explanation.

1a: Plagiarism

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the verb “to plagiarize” means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own; use (another's production) without crediting the source.”

Use this as the classic version of plagiarism. Taking and passing off work as your own (when, in fact, it is not your own) without proper credit = plagiarism.

Here is a list from Plagiarism.org that gives examples of plagiarism:

• turning in someone else’s work as your own
• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

These are all examples of plagiarism in an academic context. You’ve probably heard about the punishments of plagiarism (expulsion from school, suspension, etc.) and how much of an immoral act it is. If you’re a university student or have been a university student, you are definitely familiar with everything that I’ve just written.

But what does plagiarism look like in regard to fanfiction or any self-published, online, and fiction/non-fiction works?

Well, it’s the same thing.

If Person-A takes work from Person-B and publishes it as theirs, that’s plagiarism. If Person-A edits parts of Person-B’s work and publishes it as theirs, that’s still plagiarism. If Person-A writes a story that is extremely similar to Person-B’s work (if the similarities are too similar to be coincidence, if the similarities indicate that Person-A was more than “just inspired” by Person-B’s work), then that’s plagiarism.

It seems easy enough to understand, right? I would assume so, but there is a concept here that I haven’t discussed yet.

Credits. In other words, attribution: making it publicly known that a work/idea/project is the product of someone or something.

When it comes to fanfiction, I notice this happens in a variety of ways:

• People translate entire stories/work from English to other languages, and they proceed to credit the original writer.
• A writer is inspired by something, and they write in their descriptions that their work was “song-inspired” or “based on a prompt.”
• Sometimes, writers cross post their own stories from AO3 to Wattpad to Tumblr. I used to do this as well. And if you didn’t know, cross posting is when a writer posts their work onto multiple platforms. Writers usually credit themselves by saying “this is/was cross-posted from B-Platform-Name.”

To be clear, those examples do not showcase plagiarism. If the work has been attributed (i.e., “attributed” or “credited”) properly, then that is not plagiarism.

However, in another, grayer example, I have seen some people (who are not the writers themselves) copy/paste entire stories/work from Tumblr and post it onto Wattpad in a “compilation.” Then, they’ll “credit” the original writer on the forewords or on the chapters.

This isn’t plagiarism, right? Yes, it isn’t plagiarism. They credited the original writer, so it’s not like they were claiming that it was their own work. Sure, but something isn’t quite right in this scenario.

I’ll refer to this example later, but for now, let’s move on.

Proper crediting is done by naming the owner/original writer’s name/username in full. Stating “not mine” is not giving proper credit. “This story is a translation of @ABC-Writer-123’s story” = giving proper credit.

So that’s crediting out of the way.

There is another very important concept that I haven’t discussed yet. It’s a concept that isn’t usually discussed in the scope of plagiarism itself.

Consent. In other words, permission: a privilege that is freely and knowingly given to someone that allows that person to do something.

When people credit work to someone else, they can usually do that exclusive of having the owner’s consent.

For example, if a journalist publishes a news article, a student citing that article as a source within an essay does not have to gain the journalist’s consent to do so.

Use this blog post as an example. I didn’t need to ask the authors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary to include their definition of plagiarism; I used their work without consent. Is that plagiarism? No. I credited them properly by including a link to their webpage and explicitly stating what information I gathered on their website.

This concept of consent/permission also delves into copyright infringement and fair use, but before we get to that, let’s first talk about consent when it comes to written works—especially in fanfiction—and how it applies to plagiarism.

1b: The so-called “converting” of stories

Consent is something we need to talk about because I notice that people struggle to understand what it is in the context of written work.

As I mentioned before, some people/readers translate work from one language to another. They usually have permission to do this. When writers cross post their own work, they don’t need permission from themselves, but they usually make a note of what they’re doing. They do this so that new readers are not misled into thinking that something has been plagiarized.

These examples are innocuous. There’s nothing wrong with translating a story (as long as there was permission given, of course) or cross posting. However, let’s talk about something I also see frequently: the “converting” of stories.

In the context of fanfiction and writing, “converting” a story is changing the names of the original characters into different names to fit another pairing/ship. Besides the names (and maybe other minor details on descriptions and other background characters), the original writing is kept largely intact.

I mention the “converting” of stories because it’s surprisingly very common. I have experienced it myself over the years. It happened a few weeks ago before this post was made.

So why am I bringing this up? Because most people don’t get consent/permission from the original writers when they “convert” stories. How do I know? A couple of ways:

1. Most people do not credit the original writer of the “converted” story.
2. Some people merely put “not mine” or “CTTO” meaning “credits to the owner” on the descriptions of the “converted story.”
3. Some people—the most shameless ones—behave in a way that explicitly displays that they are the owner of the converted/stolen work.
   I have spotted people pretending to have spent hours writing something they did not write in their author’s notes. They reply to comments thanking readers for enjoying “their” hard work. They refer to the work as “theirs” (i.e., they are also plagiarizing work).
4. I personally reach out to the original writers on other platforms, and they tell me that they did not give anyone permission to post their stories elsewhere.
5. The converted story’s original source material is a published book sold and produced by a publishing company. Publishing companies don’t just give permission for the distribution of their products unless there is a licensing contract involved.

Why is this important? Why did I bring this up? How does it relate to plagiarism?

Well, if you don’t have consent/permission to post a story (and it is irrelevant whether or not you give proper credit) yet you post it anyway, then the situation has evolved into something else. This is no longer just a case of plagiarism; this is copyright infringement.

1c: Copyright infringement and fair use

Before I discuss copyright infringement and fair use, I want to make it clear that I am speaking about United States copyright laws.

Now, someone might be asking: well, why should I care about US law? I live in B-Country, not the United States.

My answer to that is: all websites hosted in the United States (that includes AFF, Tumblr, and AO3) have to comply with US law. If you’re posting content from Belgium or Canada onto a website hosted in the United States, that website and its contents legally must comply with US law.

In addition, I also encourage you to read a website’s terms of use in regard to copyright. Wattpad is based in Canada, but their Terms of Service state that they maintain “a policy toward copyright infringement…in accordance with the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”

Note that I am also not a lawyer or someone who specializes in copyright law; I don’t know everything. However, I do know how to analyze and synthesize information from credible sources.

So let’s begin.

The United States Copyright Office defines copyright as “a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.”

Essentially, created works—in the context of my post, written works—are protected by copyright so long as they are available in a tangible way. “Tangible medium of expression” refers to the work having to exist somewhere visible. An example of this could be a blog, a digital photo, an audio recording, or a physical book.

Copyright doesn’t apply to ideas, though, unlike plagiarism. Here’s a FAQ from the US Copyright Office of what can be copyrighted.

How long does copyright apply? It depends on the country and publication date of the work. Wikipedia has compiled a list of countries around the world and their copyright length. In the United States, copyright usually exists until the death of the copyright owner with an additional 70 years. (There are special cases, so if you’re curious, I encourage you to investigate copyright lengths yourself.)

Furthermore, work is copyrighted from “the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device” (US Copyright Office). There is also no need to formally register work to be protected by copyright—unless you want to bring a lawsuit for infringement.

But what is copyright infringement?

“As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner” (US Copyright Office).

The key word is permission. Consent.

Plagiarism is centered around the idea of not giving proper credit or attribution to the original owner of the work. Copyright infringement is about not having the permission (consent) of the owner to use or distribute their work. Giving attribution does not matter. It is about having been granted permission.

Do you remember the example I brought up earlier?

In another, grayer example, I have seen some people (who are not the writers themselves) copy/paste entire stories/work from Tumblr and post it onto Wattpad in a “compilation.” Then, they’ll “credit” the original writer on the forewords or on the chapters.

Copy/pasting entire stories from one platform to another, and “crediting” the original writer (without their consent) is not plagiarism. It’s something else. Unless the writer has a public notice that allows anyone to repost their work over various platforms, this is copyright infringement.

You might ask, “if that’s copyright infringement, then why do people quote or use portions of work without the permission of the author?”

The answer is: fair use.

Fair use is a part of copyright law. Section 107 of the US Copyright Act essentially states that there are exceptions to copyright infringement. These exceptions include using the copyrighted work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.”

This means that you can use copyrighted content as long as your purpose is “fair.”

An example of fair use is something that I’ve been doing in this post: quoting sentences from different authors and articles. News sites do this all the time. They quote material from different sources. Academic papers—even minor research papers done in high schools—do this too.

However, there are many things to consider when determining if something is fair use, as explained by the US Copyright Office:

1. Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. Nature of the copyrighted work
3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

In the context of written work—especially in the context of my post—I’ll only discuss the third point since it’s the most critical when it comes to fair use.

The third point refers to the amount of copyrighted content that can be used (without permission of the owner) and still be categorized as fair use.

Using a few quotes from an article or book falls under fair use. For example, if I wanted to include a quote from a book to use in my story, I can do that (with proper credit of course) because I am only using a very small amount of copyrighted content.

However, copy/pasting entire stories from one platform to another does not fall under fair use.

In that example about copy/pasting stories from one platform to another, it is irrelevant whether or not you credit the owner. Sure, you aren’t plagiarizing a story, but you’re committing copyright infringement.

This is why permission/consent is crucial.

Reposting or “converting” stories can be a legal issue if you don’t have proper permission to do so. I say legal issue because copyright infringement can hold you liable to lawsuits or DMCA takedowns. For the sake of keeping this post short, please look at DMCA.com for more information on what a DMCA takedown is if you want to know more about it.

Copyright infringement can also be a felony under special circumstances—if not a misdemeanor in the United States (read: Criminal Copyright Infringement). Casual writers on the Internet are probably not going to pursue heavy legal action for copyright infringement, but you never know, and you should not try to test the limits.

I would also like to note that there are existing discussions about the legality of fanfiction. These discussions are usually centered around writing fanfiction for copyrighted stories and copyrighted characters (think of Game of Thrones or Marvel movies).

However, despite the legal issues, a lot of people consider fanfiction to be a “transformative” work that is still protected by copyright law. “Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work” (US Copyright Office).

Real-Person Fiction (RPF) is a whole other monster. People argue over its ethics, and while it’s a fair discussion, I won’t talk about that here since that would take another 2,000 words. It’s can also be very subjective, and it isn’t the main point of my post.

1d: Overview of plagiarism and copyright infringement

Plagiarism and copyright infringement are both improper uses of someone’s work.

Plagiarism is centered around the credit/attribution of work; copyright infringement is about not having the permission (consent) of the owner to use or distribute their work. Plagiarism can be copyright infringement if you take credit for work that is not yours, and you did not have permission to use/distribute that work.

Copyright infringement is illegal; plagiarism is usually considered unethical but not illegal. However, forms of plagiarism (ex: copying something word-for-word and distributing it as one’s own work) can also be deemed as copyright infringement—which is illegal. Usually, it is the academic institutions (schools and universities) that have punishments for plagiarism. Plagiarism can also refer to the theft of ideas, which is not necessarily considered as copyright infringement.

Stating “not mine,” “credits to the owner,” “CTTO,” or whatever phrase indicating non-ownership, is not giving proper credit. Doing this makes you liable for plagiarism and/or copyright infringement. Giving proper credit to a writer for their work is naming the writer’s pen/username in full.

If you want to repost a story to another platform, translate it, or “convert” it, please get permission first. And respect the original writer if they decline your request. If they do allow you to do this, credit them properly.

Giving credit to a writer but not gaining their permission to post their entire story elsewhere is copyright infringement. This is arguably worse than just plagiarism because it can lead to DMCA takedowns and lawsuits.

Fair use only applies in exceptions. Usually, quoting a sentence or passage from a book is fair use. Posting the entirety of a book from one platform to another is not fair use.

2: My personal experiences

Warning: a little bit of rant ahead.

In December 2022, I found out that someone “converted” some of my one-shots into a different ship and posted it onto Wattpad. The person “converting” my stories made no note that gave me rightful credit, nor did I recognize them as someone who I gave permission to convert my stories.

I messaged the “author” that was posting my stolen work, and I asked them to remove my stories. Luckily, they took it all down, so I didn’t have to file an official report on Wattpad. And I’m forever grateful to the person who alerted me of this happening.

But this wasn’t the first time.

In June 2022, I found out that someone translated one of my stories without my permission.

Sure, they credited me, but they didn’t have my permission.

A year before, they had spoken to me about wanting to translate my story, and I told them that I would decide later because I wanted to edit my own story of grammatical mistakes and potential plot holes first. I had forgotten about the whole exchange until I found out about a translated version of my story on Twitter.

This person never reached out to me ever about what they had done. They had translated my story anyway, and when I confronted them about it, their response was “well, technically you didn’t say ‘no,’ you said you would decide later.”

Around December 2021–January 2022, someone reposted my one-shot from Tumblr and posted it on Wattpad. I was credited as the writer, but they didn’t ask for my permission. I messaged them to delete it, but they were inactive (or were just ignoring me) for the next two months, so I filed a DMCA report through Wattpad and had it taken down.

Those are the instances in the past year where I’ve dealt with plagiarism or copyright infringement.

I don’t care if I sound crazy, but this was all so annoying to deal with throughout the year. I know I’m nothing in comparison to published New York Times Bestselling authors, but I don’t need to be. It’s incredibly disheartening that people just don’t care about getting permission IN REGARD TO THINGS THAT THEY DON’T OWN.

I share my work online because I enjoy talking/interacting with other people about it. 80% of my “Internet friends” are my friends because we bonded over writing stupid stories or reading them. This isn’t just “fanfiction” or “writing” or whatever you want to call it. This is a part of my life. Writing has helped me cope with my struggles. It has allowed me to speak about things I normally wouldn’t say aloud.

Writing is about more than putting words on a page.

As it goes for artists (shoutout to the artists who now have to deal with AI art, by the way), the things that writers create can be very dear to them. Respect the boundaries that they set. If they don’t want their content to be reposted without credit or at all, don’t do it.

On my profile, on my stories, I literally write “do NOT plagiarize, repost, or translate my work.” I know I don’t include “do not convert” amongst those things, but I shouldn’t have to. You have to be illiterate or just completely, negligently disrespectful to continue doing any of those things when I’ve stated not to do them.

It’s easy to just do things, so I’m asking everyone to extend consideration and intelligence into their actions before they do them.

As someone who has dealt with the stupidity of plagiarizers and copyright infringers for some time now, it’s getting to the point where I want to take down everything that I’ve posted and just disappear. I’m not going to do this, though, because I can do more good by existing and continuing to share my work. (Also, I need documentation of my own work in case I need to file another DMCA report. This is reality.)

Don’t be surprised if your favorite writers do end up disappearing and taking their work with them. It’s theirs, not yours.

3: Moving forward

As a writer, it’s going to moving forward from plagiarism or copyright infringement.

I still haven’t gotten used to it. It is terrible every single time. However, there are some tips on preventing plagiarism and/or copyright infringement that I want to share.

3a: As a writer, what can you do?

Having a medium for communication is important.

I know AFF has this option to close your profiles/walls or disable comments, but I highly recommend against that unless you’re being continuously harassed by someone. If you do want to close your profile for public viewing or disable comments on your stories, then I recommend having another social media account where you can be contacted. I’m talking about email, Twitter, or even a Google form where people can submit things anonymously.

If you are being plagiarized or some of your work is being distributed without your consent, people need to be able to contact you about it. This is why my profile is open 99% of the time, and I always give links to my Twitter.

Restrict access.

Subscribers-only on AFF doesn’t deter plagiarism, but placing your stories on friends-only might. I don’t recommend this for people who are trying to find an audience, obviously, but this method is probably the best for deterring plagiarism. By restricting access to a select few (that you trust), you probably won’t have your work stolen.

Use Google Alerts to notify you of any plagiarism.

On AFF, there’s a way where you can set up a plagiarism notification service. The admin and owner of AFF made a blog post about it a while ago. I recommend that you look into that.

You can also use Google Alerts for other things. It works by sending you an email whenever there are new results for certain stories or whole phrases. By setting an alert for a phrase that is only found in your story, you can detect plagiarism this way. While it’s not the best method for people who receive many emails on their personal accounts, it’s something.

If you had your copyright infringed, a DMCA report might be an option.

This isn’t for prevention, but you should know that this is an option on a lot of websites (not just American). Big companies like Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Twitter, and Tumblr usually have official pages where you can contact them regarding copyright infringement.

This also includes other forms of media. If you’re an artist, and you find out that someone has been posting your artwork without your permission or credit, you can file a DMCA report.

I do want to note that this shouldn’t be your first course of action.

In my experience, people are usually “nice” about removing content when you ask them first. Unless the person who plagiarized you or infringed on your copyright has been inactive for weeks or months (or if there’s literally no way to message them), they’ll usually remove the content if you ask. People will also give credit if you ask them. I’ve had people add credits to quotes of my stories when I asked, so it does work.

3b: Readers, please respect writers

I know most readers already respect their favorite writers, and they don’t need more reminders, but I can’t stress this enough.

If you want to “convert” a story or repost it, please ask first. Make sure that the writer says “YES” because “not saying no” isn’t giving consent. Getting nothing for an answer is not a sign of permission.

If you are being asked to take down a repost, a “converted” story, or a translation, please just do it. I shouldn’t have to explain this one.

This is a personal opinion, but I also think that if a writer deletes their work or deactivates their account, you shouldn’t try to distribute unauthorized copies/PDFs of their work after they are gone.

A few years ago, a writer that I knew deactivated for about a year, and at least a dozen people were trying to share unauthorized copies of the writer’s work. The writer had previously made a few of their own PDFs to share, but some readers had also saved copies of other work for themselves. Later, when the writer reactivated their account, they shared their disappointment with readers who were sharing copies without their permission.

I think that, if a writer deactivates/deletes their work, that should be respected (unless a writer states that it’s okay for copies of their work to be shared even after they deactivate). The writer no longer wants that work to exist. I am fully aware that nothing on the Internet ever gets “deleted,” but I don’t think that’s a reason to disrespect a person’s wishes.

Lastly, if you cannot express gratitude to your favorite writers through comments or thank you wishes, I hope you can at least respect their decisions with what they want to do with their work. If a writer wants to move platforms or stop writing altogether, I ask that you see the writer as a human being first—and not just a writer or content creator.

4: Closing thoughts

I hope this was helpful to anyone!

This post was meant to be a guide to people in understanding plagiarism and copyright infringement, so feel free to correct me if anything I said was wrong. (Copyright lawyers who might be reading, was my research okay?)

Feel free to share this post with others, and feel free to share your experiences. If there are other writers out there who want to rant, you can do it here!

Otherwise, I’m open to discussing anything I mentioned in this post.

If you have specific questions, I recommend researching topics by yourself. I don’t want to have to explain something to you when so much information is available online.

Thanks for reading.