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Komnenos
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Topic: Dan Brown acquitted of plagiarism Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 13:31 |
Verdict has been given in he trial of Dan Brown who had been accused by the authors of the "Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" of stealing the main narrative of their book, published in the early 80s ( Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, they had children and escaped to France where they founded a Royal bloodline), and turning it into the international best-seller "The Da Vinci Code".
The High Court in London acquitted Dan Brown from all accusation of plagiarism.
I'm not a highly qualified Briish High Court Judge, but having read the whole "Holy Blood" series, which I found highly entertaining, but also totally fictitious, and having listened to entire reading of the "Da Vinci Code" on my MP3 player, I couldn't help noticing certain perplexing similarities.
For reasons unknown, they must have escaped the judges.
Good news for Dan Brown, but bad news for the rest of humankind: "After devoting so much time and energy to this case, I'm eager to get back to writing my new novel."
BBC News
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Zagros
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 13:44 |
On teh grounds of co-incidence, from looking at similar sources etc.
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Akolouthos
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 14:42 |
Just out of curiosity, isn't plagiarism in fiction works hard to define? Of course Holy Blood Holy Grail isn't really an historical work, but it does purport to be. The Da Vinci Code is acknowledged by its author as a work of fiction (although millions of new-agers apparently missed that memo).
If a fiction writer can be accused of plagiarism in this manner, why not prosecute Coleen McCullough for ripping off both ancient Roman sources and modern secondary sources in her multi-volume fiction series about Marius, Sulla, and Caesar?
-Akolouthos
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Zagros
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 15:58 |
The author must be dead more than 25 years before you can use his/her material without permission according to teh copyright convention.
Edited by Zagros
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red clay
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 16:05 |
Stealing ideas from one person or source is
plagiarsim
Stealing ideas from many persons or sources
is---"Research"
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"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
Unknown.
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Zagros
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 16:22 |
no, all of it is plagiarism if you don't cite sources and/or have copyright permission where appropriate.
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Akolouthos
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 16:27 |
Originally posted by Zagros
The author must be dead more than 25 years before you can use his/her material without permission according to teh copyright convention.
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Thanks . I've always kind of wondered about that.
-Akolouthos
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hugoestr
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 16:37 |
The problem with legal copyright infringement when it comes to novels is that the author must have lifted actual passages from the other book. So as long as Brown or any other writer actually writes their own version of a story, they cannot be found as being plagiarists, at least in the U.S.
Which makes it very amusing when U.S. college professors are actually found guilty of plagiarism using this criteria
But really, if fiction writers were granted the right to protect plotlines, then publishing fiction writing would not be possible. Everyone is really just lifting the plotlines from other stories.
Furthermore, cool twists on stories would be impossible. Greek tragedy playwrights would not be able to have published their works either under these rules
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Zagros
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 16:49 |
Academic plagiarism relates tot he stealing of ideas, so it doesn't matter how it is worded.
The Copyright Convention is universal so regardless of country the same rules apply unless the authorities of a country do not enforce or recognise it.
http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/copyright/html_eng/page1. shtml
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ulrich von hutten
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 18:07 |
was the original as bad as the plagiarism was ?
i couldn't understand why the book of brown was a topseller !?
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hugoestr
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 20:47 |
Originally posted by ulrich von hutten
was the original as bad as the plagiarism was ?
i couldn't understand why the book of brown was a topseller !? |
What I heard was that his books didn't sell well to begin with until it got listed in some recommended gift lists.
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mamikon
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Posted: 07-Apr-2006 at 21:13 |
Its really engaging, I disliked the ending though, although I should admit it was crafty
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