A freelance journalist is furious after claiming Mail Online lifted wholesale quotes from an interview with Emma Thompson and refused to give due attribution.
John Hiscock told Roy Greenslade that it was "the most blatant and egregious case of plagiarism I have ever come across".
The story revealed how Thompson was kissed inappropriately by an elderly magician at the age of eight.
UPDATE: The original version of the Mail Online piece contained extensive quotes carried without attribution. After this was flagged up to Mail Online by Press Gazette a spokesman contacted us and said this was a mistake and attribution to the Daily Mirror (with a link) was added in to the story.
The Mirror story can be viewed here, and the Daily Mail version is here.
Large chunks of quotes were also lifted by the Daily Express and The Independent, but they attributed them to the Daily Mirror in the first instance.
The PCC Editors' Code of Practice has nothing to say on the issue of plagiarism but Hiscock could well have a case to sue Mail Online for breach of his copyright.
On Friday Press Gazette reported how a group of News Agencies had claimed 50,000 Euros in damages from a Croation website which was lifting their images from Mail Online and republishing them.
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