Becoming a victim of plagiarism

As a journalist, I've had plenty of downs to go along with my ups - I've been sworn at, spat on, beaten up, shot at, arrested and sued. But what has hurt as much, or more, than all of those, has been becoming a victim of plagiarism.

- BRENDAN SEERY

The worst examples happened when I was working as a reporter in Namibia for a South African newspaper group. Because so many foreign news agencies and papers didn't have anyone on the ground permanently in Namibia, a lot of the facts in my stories and even direct quotes were often used by hacks in Joburg filing for their foreign editors.

That sort of behaviour would go by the definition of "fair usage", by which copyright law functions.

But, it was the wholesale ripping-off of unique ideas - and in one case, an entire feature, including the punctuation - which was really offensive.