Passing off

Passing off or plagiarism is a crime that is committed when a person is lying, deceiving others and fraudulently appropriating a work, product or service actually belonging to another person.

This does not only harm the person to whom the work, product or service belongs, but can also harm the work, product or service itself.

In virtually all cases the work, product or service proposed by the criminal has neither the quality nor the level of the original work, product or service.

As an example of counterfeit or passing off: an iPhone, there are many fakes of this product made by criminals who present them as original iPhones when they are not.

As an example of artistic passing off: a copied work of art that is sold as an original work.

As an example of literary plagiarism: a well-known text in which the plagiarist has made some small modifications but presents it as his original work.