If a translator discovers that the text he/she is currently working on has been plagiarized, the translator has the duty to report this violation of intellectual property rights. This is the advice of Wendy Cohen, author of an ethic column for the mercurynews.com.
In the case described a translator worked on an article for inclusion in an historical encyclopedia by a major American research institution. She accidentally learned that one article was copied in large part from a lexicon published in 1929.
Although there does not exist an international copyright, apart from multilateral agreements to respect copyrighted works of other nations, most countries automatically protect original works from the moment of its creation. The copyright is held by the author and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death.
Source: mercurynews.com
