Plagiarism is the act by which you take credit for someone else’s work without giving appropriate acknowledgment to the original author. Though plagiarism has been around for generations, internet plagiarism is a comparatively new issue that has recently been on the rise. Almost 60% of high school students have admitted to plagiarizing in some way, with half of them admitting that they plagiarized using the internet. Plagiarism on the internet is usually done by either copying from papers that are bought or by copying and pasting work written by others.
Canada laws governing Plagiarism
Plagiarism is against the law in Canada. Originally enacted in 1921, the Copyright Act in Canada was amended in 1988 and 1997. Under Canadian copyright law, an original author is allowed to create and recreate their work. All acts that violate the right of the author to work are copyright infringements. Under the provisions of this act, the original writer can seek legal assistance to protect his/her right to the work. The copyright in Canada is reserved under Section 12 of the “Copyright Act.”
How Is Plagiarism Punished in Canada?
Various fines will be imposed under section 35(1) of the Copyright Act in Canada. Penalties range from $100 to $5000 if the writer does not financially benefit or financially damage the original author. In the case of commercial infringement, the penalty will range between $500 and $20,000. If you are found to be committing a copyright infringement involving the rental or sale of copyrighted works, you may face a fine of $1,000,000 or two years in prison.
Students who violate academic integrity and commit Plagiarism in their papers may be subject to disciplinary action from the institution; penalties or punishment varies from institute to institute, which includes dismissal or suspension of a student from the institute. Or they may fail the student for academic dishonesty, which affects the student adversely in their academic records and career in Canada.
In the event that bloggers or content creators use plagiarized material in their work, they may end up facing legal issues. As a result, they could lose their readership through any complaint of Plagiarism, and it will tarnish their credibility.
Today, many search engines, such as Google, take plagiarism seriously and are constantly improving their customer service. If any plagiarised content appears on their site or blog, they can have the site eliminated from the search results. Content creators could lose traffic as a result. In the case of business blogs, the organization’s overall reputation is negatively impacted.
How to avoid Plagiarism?
Students and other writers should create original content, and if they use material from other sites or blogs, it is important to give credit to the original author or writers. In addition, if you are quoting any of the sentences directly from other sources, then you must attribute the sentences to their original authors. Students or other writers can avoid the above penalties by doing so.
Some of the free Plagiarism checkers online
Good luck!
Source: Plagiarism Law in Canada
