The unauthorized use of a stock photo is NOT a side issue. If you look at the bigger picture you'll see that stealing something, whether it gets used or not, IS morally wrong. Theft is a fineable and jailable offense according to the laws of every civilization and it's against the Bible's code of morals.

I have read, "Thou shalt not steal" as a directive to society. Our system of laws are also based on such a directive. I have never read, "Thou shalt not represent something as something that it is not." as one of the 10 main directives, although one is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against another." which is similar because it misrepresents the victim of the false witness.

Representing a photograph under false pretenses is only what the Swedish Nature Photographer group felt was worth retracting the honor for, and I would agree that it is proper on their part to do so. You didn't previously mention the part about the animal not being in the place the photographer said it was, but that is also representing the subject of the stolen photograph under false pretenses. Well worth a honor retraction but not a breaking of any law or commandment. Misrepresentation is lying and lying isn't something you are arrested for or convicted of.

Using the stock photo, whether purchased or stolen, under false pretenses is definitely secondary to the clearly moral offense of stealing that was done to the owner of the photograph and the agency representing the owner that was supposed to get profit when it was sold. But the owner's profit and the agency's profit were stolen. Using the stock photo was also stealing the honor that should have been awarded to another photographer and the thief almost accomplished that goal through the secondary action of misrepresentation.

The phoney data and credentials of your scientific cohorts are, in realty, another version of stealing. They stole funding from the sources. They stole research time from other researchers that is forever wasted and lost. They stole salaries for their personal gain from the funding source money. They stole the potential of living longer from those afflicted by the diseases they were supposedly researching. They slowed down the process of finding cures which has a long-term result of stealing life from even more people in the future afflicted with those diseases. They stole awards, honors, recognition, and satisfaction for a job well done from other researchers who may have found the real cure they were looking for if not for the phoney data they were misled by. Everybody was stolen from in your scientific scenario - including you.

Misrepresentation was merely a tool in both scenarios to achieve stealing.