Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike L
With plagiarism, you are stealing ideas, opinions and research. There's no law against that, although the victim might well feel aggrieved at the loss.
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In this particular case, though, it's a novel that's in question. I would be very surprised if the publishing contract, assuming it's not self-published, didn't have a clause where the author attests that the work is entirely the work of the author. Publishers put that in just in case something like this comes up, because it redirects the pointy end of any litigation.
There's still no law against it, but it would likely be a breach of contract. It also wouldn't be a first. There have been a couple of cases of it in the last few years. If I recall correctly, one was an historical romance that did a fair amount of "borrowing" for the historical details.