Plagiarism is an ethical issue. Different organizations will have different definitions of acceptable practice. Sometimes plagiarism issues are confused with copyright infringement issues. They are related but different. Copyright is a legal concept controlled by copyright law.

• Plagiarism -- not acknowledging another person's work or ideas when you use it in your writings, speeches and other scholarly efforts.
• Copyright infringement -- not following the laws regarding use of another person's (or other entity) fixed expression; generally involves economic and ownership issues.

Some people think plagiarism is only an issue in the academic setting. After all, it is not unusual for politicians to use speech writers and the manager of a business group to present group work as his or her own. Here are some articles about plagiarism and its consequences outside the academic community.