Thursday 22 October 2009

Are these the Top Ten Plagiarisms?

Thank you, Amber Johnson, for sending the 1709 Blog this link to the "Top 10 Plagiarism Scandals of All Time". The list opens with the rubric,
"Plagiarism isn’t just for procrastinating students or juvenile delinquents. Even high profile politicians, writers, artists and educators can be found guilty of plagiarism, whether it is on purpose or by accident. Check out these top 10 plagiarism scandals of all time that have affected some of the world’s most illustrious publications and individuals".
A quick perusal of the list leads to one of two conclusions: either the list is a little local in its outlook, or the United States is truly the epicentre of world plagiarism. In either event, the 1709 Blog invites readers to post below the details of any particularly egregious examples of plagiarism which we can all consult when doing serious research or preparing after-dinner speeches.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Raj Persaud springs to mind: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4179597.ece

Francisco Cabrera said...

For non-American cases of plagiarism you may read a paper I wrote some years ago, which includes French and German case law:

http://www.obs.coe.int/online_publication/expert/plagiarism.pdf.en

Also for those who read French, there is an interesting website dealing with the literary aspects of plagiarism:

http://www.leplagiat.net/

Anonymous said...

You may find some example of English "plagiarism" in Judge Posner´s great book: The Little Book of Plagiarism from 2007.

He asked ia if Shakespeare was a plagiarist in Antony and Cleopatra
and T.S Eliot in "The Waste Land".

But, Posner said about Shakespeare: "If this is plagiarism, we need more plagiarism"!