Legal analysis: Generally speaking, the paper can be quoted and used for reference, but if it is completely plagiarized, it belongs to plagiarism of other people's intellectual achievements, that is, it infringes on the author's intellectual property rights. The author can bring an intellectual property lawsuit to the court, and generally needs to bear civil liability for compensation.

Legal basis: Article 217 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) infringes on copyright or copyright-related rights for the purpose of making profits, and if the illegal income is relatively large or there are other serious circumstances, it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years. If the amount obtained by fine method is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined:

Reproduction, distribution and dissemination of written works, music, fine arts, audio-visual works, computer software and other works prescribed by laws and administrative regulations to the public through information networks without the permission of the copyright owner;

Reproduction and distribution of audio and video products of their performances without the permission of performers, or dissemination of their performances to the public through information networks;

Making or selling artworks with forged signatures of others;

Without the permission of the copyright owner or the copyright-related obligee, deliberately avoiding or destroying the technical measures taken by the obligee to protect the copyright of his works, audio-visual products and other copyright-related rights.