When I started to research how German copyright law deals with #plagiarism in #research, I simply did not find any cases of prosecution or conviction in civil court.
Could it be that Germans are particularly honest and that plagiarism does not exist in #Germany?...
It took me a while to understand, that courts are not called upon to judge cases of plagiarism, because it is the research institutes and, in case of appeal, the administrative courts that deal with them.
This is because German research has developed solid tools for defining and punishing plagiarism, which the institutes must respect. These rules cover infringements much broader than #copyright, including 'intelligent' plagiarism, theft of ideas, paraphrasing and other misquotes.
Prosecution is not a matter for the parties but for society.
What German institutions most often sanction by withdrawing the title of doctor is the deception of the researcher, the lack of independence of his or her research work and the resulting lack of progress in research.
In #France, the university barely challenge or sanction cases of plagiarism. Victims, tired of not being heard or afraid of seeing their case buried, turn to the courts. Because historically based essentially on copyright, the French courts only manage to award damages and punish copy-pasting. While new legal grounds such as parasitism are developing, the costs, burdens and hazards of the procedures limit the number of claims.
So proud to be published on this matter in the newly released book "Academic Integrity, A Call to Research and Action" at Globethics Publications Research Ethic series.
Thank you Institut de Recherche et d’Action sur la Fraude et le Plagiat Académiques, Michelle Bergadaà, Paulo Peixoto, Béatrice Durand
Please get a free copy of the book hereunder (download available for free):
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