Plagiarism refers to presenting someone else’s ideas, words, images, or other forms of creation as your own without giving proper credit to the original author. In other words, it occurs when someone takes material from another person and uses it as if it were their own, without proper citation or referencing to the original author.

“Plagiarism can occur in any type of intellectual work, including academic, literary, artistic, and research work,” comments our head of the Intellectual Property Department, Fátima Espinal.

According to our lawyer, some common examples of plagiarism can include copying and pasting paragraphs from a book or website, using someone else’s ideas without attribution, presenting work that has been written by someone else as your own, or even purchasing or downloading others’ work to present it as your own.

“Plagiarism is a violation of copyright and can have serious legal and ethical consequences. Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge the work of others and properly cite the original authors,” Espinal states.

If someone has plagiarized your work, our specialist emphasizes the importance of taking immediate action to protect your copyright and ensure the plagiarizer stops the unauthorized use of your work.

First and foremost, our expert recommends checking whether your work has indeed been copied: “You can conduct an online search to see if your work appears on other websites without your permission. You can also use online plagiarism detection tools.”

Furthermore, Espinal asserts that the next step is to request the plagiarizer to immediately remove your work from their website or any other medium where it has been published: “Do this in writing (email, letter, message); this will provide you with documentary evidence of your claim.”

If the work has been published on a website or platform, Espinal suggests that you can contact the site owner and report the plagiarism. The site may have a policy against plagiarism and can remove the work without the need for legal action.

“If the plagiarizer doesn’t remove your work, you should seek a lawyer specialized in Intellectual Property to advise you. The lawyer can help you send a cease and desist letter to the plagiarizer and even initiate legal action on your behalf,” our expert recommends.

To prevent this problem from recurring, our lawyer encourages registering your work with the National Registry of Intellectual Property to strengthen your legal position.

If you have more questions on this or other topics, you can contact us through our social media or by visiting our offices located at Calle Cuscatlán, #4312, Colonia Escalón, San Salvador, El Salvador.