copyright trap

plural copyright traps

1. Any material covertly inserted into a copyrighted work in order to identify plagiarized versions.

   1 more example

   Publishers of maps sometimes include copyright traps—small errors such as the inclusion of a nonexistent road, “trap street,” or a fictitious bend in a road. If a competitor wrongfully copies the map, copyright traps may prove useful in a court case. In 2001 the British Automobile Association paid 20 million pounds in an out-of-court settlement to the British Ordnance Survey after having plagiarized their maps, including copyright traps (Clark 2001).

   2019, Per Mollerup, Pretense Design: Surface Over Substance, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 176