18th-century American piracy of British literature  From
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18th-century American piracy of British literature refers to the
practice of reprinting British books in the USA without the
permission of the original author or publisher.  Plagiarism is
traditionally defined as “the process of copying another
person's idea or written work and claiming it as original” [1]
This definition applies to many aspects of written work in
today’s world and has serious consequences if found guilty of
committing it, but this idea has not always been in place.
During the 18th century, it was extremely common for British
Literature to be reprinted across the Atlantic Ocean in America
without any acknowledgement or payment given to the original
author. This form of plagiarism, referred to as literary piracy,
was not an easy action to control because of the immense
distance between the two countries, and the lack of any real
international law which would work to protect th