# Did you ever plagiarize anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-plagiarize-anything/843668 "2019-11-19T20:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-plagiarize-anything/843668/81 "2019-11-22T20:29:51Z")
Did it for a living, kind of. Generic medicines are copies of originators, obviously. They are used in the same way for the same conditions, and so the product literature has to be the same (legal requirement). Except it can’t be, because if it is, the originator can sue for infringement of copyright. So back in the day, for the year I worked for a pile-'em-high-and-sell-'em-cheap generic company, we had to produce product literature that was identical in content to the originator’s but worded slightly differently. So if the originator said: _Even a small overdose may cause grey ankles, high blood pressure and nosebleeds_ we might write _Even a minor overdose may cause nosebleeds, high blood pressure and grey ankles_ It’s the same for the entire industry, obviously. (BTW “product literature” = the Pack Insert in the US and the Summary of Product Characteristics and Patient Information Leaflet in the EU.) Anyway, here’s a real example for your amusement (not one of mine). I picked a drug at random (lisinopril), went to the Electronic Medicines Compendium website and picked a piece of the Patient Information Leaflet for the Mylan product: > [@](#): > > Lisinopril contains lisinopril, which belongs to a group of medicines called Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. ACE inhibitors lower blood pressure by widening your blood vessels. This allows the blood to flow more easily and reduces the effort needed to pump blood around the body. > > Lisinopril can be used for the following conditions: > > • to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) > • to treat heart failure > • if you have recently had a heart attack (myocardial infarction) > • to treat kidney problems in diabetic patients with high blood pressure And the Aurobindo one: > [@](#): > > Lisinopril contains a medicine called lisinopril. This belongs to a group of medicines called ACE inhibitors. Lisinopril 5 mg, 10 mg and 20 mg tablets can be used for the following conditions: > > • To treat high blood pressure (hypertension). > • To treat heart failure. > • If you have recently had a heart attack (myocardial > infarction). > • To treat kidney problems caused by Type II diabetes in people with high blood pressure. > > Lisinopril works by making your blood vessels widen. This helps to lower your blood pressure. It also makes it easier for your heart to pump blood to all parts of your body. Both being “versions” of the originator. j ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-plagiarize-anything/843668/82 "2019-11-22T20:57:21Z")
I was an editor of my high school’s literary magazine. Whenever we’d get a batch of 30 submissions at a time, we knew that meant an English teacher had given a creative writing assignment mandating submissions. Lots of plagiarism in those batches. I don’t remember any minor Wordsworth, but there was one guy who constantly submitted Rush lyrics. Seriously dude, at least change your poem’s title from “Red Barchetta” to something a little less recognizable. Once I woke up with a killer punk/metal riff in my head. I played it for my friend, he thought it was great, I came up with lyrics for a punk tune called “F.U.G.Q” (as in GQ magazine - FU should be obvious), we recorded it in my living room into a component stereo system with 2 mics. Very proud of it. Six months later we’re in the car and hear my riff on the radio. “Holy shit!!!” “That sounds like… Freddy Mercury?”. “Queen has a new album, could I have heard a leaked song?” (Hot Space had just come out). DJ later back-announces it as “Stone Cold Crazy”. Pawing through the bins at the record store (amazing how much work went into finding out about music in those pre-internet days) showed it wasn’t a new song, but was 8 years old. Very deflated. Still one of the most kick-ass riffs off all time, though. In 8th grade I stole a plot point for a short story assignment from an anthology of Buck Rogers newspaper strips. Laser weapons were ineffective against energy shields, but old-fashioned bullets passed through with no problem. Good guys overwhelm the bad guys fortress after finding a stash of ancient handguns. The funny thing was my friend insisted my story was a total ripoff of Ralph Bakshi’s “Wizards” (premise was post-apocalyptic mutant underclass vs “normal” oppressors) but thought my bullet thing was the one original twist. That was the one thing I explicitly stole, as opposed to being a variation on a trope. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-plagiarize-anything/843668.md?page=4)