It is important to remember that plagiarism occurs across all planes of creativity - it is not limited to reprinting someone's illustrations or rewriting someone's story, it can reach out across different media such as using a novel to heavily influence your illustration, meanwhile claiming all concepts of your own.

It is with this realisation I'm going to look at the famous Shia LaBeouf case study - one that we all know fairly well by now. In 2013, LaBeouf created a short film (Howardcantour.com) and released it as his directorial debut. It was an impressive conceptual film about the nature of criticism and its power to sculpt the creative world, definitely something its audience had been captivated by.

Shortly after its release, buzzfeed noted a familiarity with the film, and began to compare it to a comic piece by Daniel Clowes - as it turned out, the script from the comic had been lifted and used, word for word, as the dialogue in this short film. When Clowes realised what was going on, he mentioned that he had never even spoken to LaBeouf, and was shocked that his work had been stolen and used elsewhere.

Immediately after, LaBeouf issued a formal apology after stating he was a fan of Clowes' work, and, in his enthusiasm, had 'forgotten to give credit where credit was due'. As it turned out, the apology he issued was awfully similar to, in fact one could say he plagiarised, a yahoo answers response.

" Copying isn’t particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work. In my excitement and naïveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation. Im embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella Justin M. Damiano, which served as my inspiration. I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short. I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it. I deeply regret the manner in which these events have unfolded and want @danielclowes to know that I have a great respect for his work." - part of the apology offered by LaBeouf.

Read the article here: http://www.avclub.com/article/shia-labeouf-plagiarizes-daniel-clowes-comic-for-h-106565