Reporting Plagiarism

[Patricia]

I think that it's both.
I've had students plagiarising from copyrighted sources. But if they copied from Dickens or Shakespeare, then it would still be plagiarism.
It may not be a crime, but it is very much frowned on in the academic and literary community.

This Wikipedia article makes a distinction betwen the two:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

[jasonkchapman]

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.

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.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

There's still no law against it, but it would likely be a breach of contract.

Yes, I agree it might be a breach of contract, but it would be a contract between author and publisher. The person who originated the work (the one who was plagiarised) wouldn't be part of that contract.

[Jellby]

I found something that may be classified as plagiarism:

I have a Spanish book (translated) on "Nordic Mythology", by Heinrich Niedner. According to the back cover Heinrich Niedner (1875-1932) was a Danish philosopher and humanist, and the book was published in 1915. Well, I was unable to find any mention on the net of this Heinrich Niedner, other than this same book.

But, by translating some simple sentences to English and searching them, I found this book, titled "Norse Mythology" and written by Rasmus Björn Anderson (1846-1936), who was an American professor of Norwegian origin, and who wrote the book in 1875. From what I could see, the book I have is the exact translation of this English book. Where does this apparently fictional Heinrich Niedner come from? And what is the reason of this invention? The Spanish book was published in 1997, when the English book was not public domain yet... but if Heinrich Niedner were real, it wouldn't have been public domain either!

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I found something that may be classified as plagiarism:

I have a Spanish book (translated) on "Nordic Mythology", by Heinrich Niedner. According to the back cover Heinrich Niedner (1875-1932) was a Danish philosopher and humanist, and the book was published in 1915. Well, I was unable to find any mention on the net of this Heinrich Niedner, other than this same book.

But, by translating some simple sentences to English and searching them, I found this book, titled "Norse Mythology" and written by Rasmus Björn Anderson (1846-1936), who was an American professor of Norwegian origin, and who wrote the book in 1875. From what I could see, the book I have is the exact translation of this English book. Where does this apparently fictional Heinrich Niedner come from? And what is the reason of this invention? The Spanish book was published in 1997, when the English book was not public domain yet... but if Heinrich Niedner were real, it wouldn't have been public domain either!

This was really interesting. I think you're right and that 'Heinrich Niedner' is fictional - at least as author of this work. Most links I could find were Spanish language, but I came across two references to a 'Heinrich Niedner' at a German univeristy site and works published around 1900 - I think it was social studies or something like that.

As for the name, while a Dane could concievably have had that name (though I couldn't find any Niedner's in the Danish name registry), it's a much more typically German name. I don't know if 'Mitología Nórdica' is a popular work, but it appears this might be a way for someone to make money out of a public domain work (edit: realised it wasn't public domain when the translation was published). An odd/convoluted way to do it though

[Mike L]

An interesting case, Jellby. Your research has been thorough.

I suppose it's possible (although unlikely) that Heinrich Niedner is a non-de-plume for Rasmus Björn Anderson, or that Niedner was the original author and Anderson a translator. That wouldn't explain the discrepancies in the publication dates, but they might be wrong as well. The 1915 date might have been the date for a particular edition.

I admit that none of the above is very likely. All I'm saying is that this is not necessarily a case of plagiarism. It would be interesting to know.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Mike L

I suppose it's possible (although unlikely) that Heinrich Niedner is a non-de-plume for Rasmus Björn Anderson, or that Niedner was the original author and Anderson a translator.

I thought of that, but the link I gave has a scan of a 1875 edition, with Anderson as author, so he didn't seem to be using a nom de plume here. He could be a translator, but I see everywhere his name as the orignal author (scans, Wikipedia...), and I would expect to find Niedner somewhere else.

Anderson does not seem to have been a controversial figure, so I don't see what could be the motivation for hiding his authorship... I'll try contacting the publisher if I can still find it.

[lilac_jive]

If anyone wants to check out a case on plagiarism, look up Cassie Edwards. That one was interesting.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I'll try contacting the publisher if I can still find it.

Let us know if you get an answer.