Applicable legislation against plagiarism and the importance of its proper choice to face judicial proceedings

Abstract

Plagiarism is an increasingly common practice in all sectors, despite the fact that it is currently considered a serious offense at the legal level. In the advertising context, copying or imitation can affect different elements (brands, labeling, etc.), and their judicial protection can be raised through different rules. In this work, we will revise the extensive number of laws that could be applied in Spain against plagiarism of advertising products and some of their limitations will be indicated. It should be noted that current legislation does not protect ideas, but only their development, which especially affects those areas in which creativity and originality are key factors to achieve success, so as to capture public's attention. The current research will also include the results of an empirical study, carried out on a sample of 150 claims of alleged plagiarism of advertising products, which were judicially processed in Spain in the period 2016-2017. We will indicate the allegedly plagiarized aspects, the decisions of the judicial bodies on the infringed rules and their coincidence with the perspective of the complaining party, as well as the sign of the final resolutions.