I think part of Adam's point was that things could have gone a lot worse -- not just for him, but for them.

Indeed. That's what I meant about legal hammer and nastier.

But all the examples essentially said "look, people you plagiarize have legal recourse against you and they can and will use it", as opposed to talking about what's *wrong* with doing it. Which I find far more interesting than "do it and you'll get a spanking". *shrug*