Main points of the article

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Consequences of plagiarism in the article

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Hamilton President

Fame Can’t Excuse

Washington Post Blogger

Plagiarism Allegations

Plagiarism in China

2/23/2015 Fame Can't Excuse a Plagiarist - The New York Times

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March 16, 2002

Fame Can't Excuse a PlagiaristBy Lynne McTaggart

LONDON— Since the revelations of plagiarism by the popular historians Stephen Ambrose andDoris Kearns Goodwin, commentators have been wrestling with the nature of literary theft. It'sbeen interesting to see this from my vantage point as the so-called wronged party in the Goodwincase. Ms. Goodwin's book, ''The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys,'' contained many sections that werecopied from my book, ''Kathleen Kennedy: Her Life and Times.''

I discovered this in the course of doing a review of Ms. Goodwin's book. I was shocked to readpassage after passage of my own book embedded in hers. I wrote a kind review, then hired acopyright lawyer. We eventually reached a satisfactory settlement.

There have been a great number of attempts to explain away plagiarism as a justifiable act withplenty of artistic and historical precedent. In some quarters, it has been excused as the literaryequivalent of the droit du seigneur -- the natural entitlement of the most talented or the mostpopular writers who can have their way with whatever material happens to seize their fancy.

But the popularity of the authors, their intentions, their track records, the quality of the book fromwhich the plagiarized material was lifted, the tendency of journalists themselves to make a hash ofthe facts -- all of these issues are beside the point.

Plagiarism is the dishonorable act of passing someone else's words off as your own, whether or notthe material is published. Merely footnoting the copied words does not cure the wrong. In caseswhere the words are protected by copyright, copying in more than minimal amounts is illegal,regardless of whether the copying was unintentional.

Writers don't own facts. Writers don't own ideas. All that we own is the way we express ourthoughts. Plagiarism pillages unique expressions, specific turns of phrase, the unusual colors awriter chooses to use from a personal literary palette. Of course, in popular histories familiar factsand scenes are often retold, but this is not plagiarism if the telling is done in a writer's own words.

A case brought by Harold Courlander, author of ''The African,'' against Alex Haley for the use ofhis material in ''Roots'' involved a claim of copyright infringement, but the case hinged, in part, onthe use of three words. The author of ''The African'' wrote that the ship ''pitched, rolled and

2/23/2015 Fame Can't Excuse a Plagiarist - The New York Times

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trembled.'' Haley's book contained the identical phrase -- one so individually wrought that it washighlighted at the trial as evidence that other material had been copied too. That case waseventually settled.

In my case, whether Ms. Goodwin had used footnotes or even quotation marks around thepassages taken from my book would not have mattered. (Some passages were credited to me infootnotes.) It was the sheer volume of the appropriation -- thousands of my exact or nearly exactwords -- that supported my copyright infringement claim.

Recognizing the thieving tendency of creation, copyright law does allow a bit of leeway. Undersome circumstances one is allowed to quote a modest number of words from someone else's work.Writers, after all, are relentless scavengers, searching in the flotsam and jetsam of their dailyexperiences for a surprising turn of phrase, a fresh metaphor.

But it is important not to excuse the larger sins of appropriation. In this age of clever electronictools, writing can easily turn into a process of pressing the cut-and-paste buttons, or gluingtogether the work of a team of researchers, rather than the long and lonely slog of placing oneword after another in a new and arresting way.

Without demanding that writers, famous or struggling, live by a certain literary law and order, wemay gradually lose the notion that an individual's unique expression matters.

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2/23/2015 Hamilton President Resigns Over Speech - The New York Times

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October 3, 2002

Hamilton President Resigns Over SpeechBy TAMAR LEWIN

The president of Hamilton College resigned on Tuesday, less than two weeks after admitting thathe had failed to properly attribute the sources used in his Sept. 1 convocation speech to incomingfreshmen.

The president, Eugene M. Tobin, has led Hamilton for nine years and has been at the 1,750-student college in Clinton, N.Y., for 22 years.

He previously was dean of the faculty, chairman of the history department, and a professor anddirector of the American studies program. His resignation will take effect on June 30.

''Because of my deep affection for this college and my unwavering support for its tradition andvalues, I have anguished over the embarrassment my speech-writing process has brought to ourcommunity,'' Mr. Tobin said in a statement.

Mr. Tobin apologized on Sept. 20 for the incident, which came to light after G. Roberts Kolb, amusic professor who heard the speech, expressed interest in one of the books Mr. Tobin hadmentioned.

The president directed him to the Amazon books Web site, where Mr. Kolb found that a reviewer'scomments about the book were similar to Mr. Tobin's.

When Mr. Kolb pointed out the similarity, Mr. Tobin quickly agreed that he needed to apologize.

In a memorandum to the Hamilton community, Mr. Tobin said that when writing speeches, asopposed to formal scholarly works, he drew from many sources and tried to limit his internalreferences, footnotes and direct quotations. But at the same time, he apologized for the ''omissionsthat resulted from the way I develop and present my speeches.''

''In an academic community, it is important for each of us to attribute -- generously andaccurately -- the ideas and arguments we derive from others,'' the memorandum said.

Plagiarism has become an increasingly prominent academic issue since two historians, DorisKearns Goodwin and Stephen E. Ambrose, were accused of using information from other people's

2/23/2015 Hamilton President Resigns Over Speech - The New York Times

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books without giving sufficient credit.

Stuart L. Scott, the chairman of Hamilton's board of trustees, said he had accepted Mr. Tobin'sresignation with regret, since Hamilton had grown stronger and more vibrant under hisleadership.

''Everyone has moments that he wishes he could take back,'' Mr. Scott said in an e-mail messageannouncing the resignation to parents and alumni. ''It's a tragedy that this flaw in the way thepresident prepares his speeches has led to this action.''

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2/23/2015 Hungary's president quits over alleged plagiarism - CNN.com

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Hungary's president quits over alleged plagiarismBy Fanny Facsar, for CNN

Updated 10:29 AM ET, Mon April 2, 2012

Story highlights

NEW: Pal Schmitt says he is prepared to go tocourt to prove he is right

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt announces his resignation to the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest on April 2, 2012.

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt resignedMonday, days after vowing he would not quitover allegations that he plagiarized parts of hisdoctoral dissertation.

Protesters had called last week for him to step

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The president was stripped of his doctorate lastweek

He had insisted he wouldn't quit, saying hisconscience was clear

Germany's defense minister resigned in asimilar scandal last year

Hungarian president caughtplagiarizing 01:41

PLAY VIDEO

down over the accusation.

"In this situation, when my personal issue splitsmy beloved country instead of uniting it, I feel itis my duty to end my service, and to resign," hetold parliament Monday.

Schmitt insisted Monday that his consciencewas clear, repeating an assertion he made in aninterview aired Friday on public access televisionstation M1.

He said Monday that he was prepared to go to court to prove that he was right.

"I have written my thesis with my best knowledge I had at the time, and I never intended toplagiarize. However, I will accept the decision of the (University) Senate that has withdrawnmy doctorate. But this has got nothing to do with me being a president," he said Friday.

Schmitt, a former Olympic fencing champion, wrote his dissertation in 1992 for the Universityof Physical Education, which is now part of Semmelweis University in Budapest.

In January 2012, the Hungarian HVG weekly reported that a large part of Schmitt'sdissertation was copied.

A university investigation also found that largeparts of it were plagiarized. A committee said lastweek that more than 200 pages of the 215-pagedocument showed "partial similarity" to otherworks or were direct translations.

The university stripped the president of hisdoctorate Thursday.

"Since the former candidate's doctoraldissertation is based on lengthy literaltranslations, it does not meet the professionaland ethical criteria of the 'dissertation preparedusing scientific methods' requirement forobtaining a university doctorate," the university'sinvestigators said in a report.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was up to the president to decide what to do.

"Nobody except him can decide," Orban said in a radio interview Friday.

Schmitt was elected by the parliament for a five-year term in 2010.

Germany's defense minister resigned last year in a similar scandal.

2/23/2015 Hungary's president quits over alleged plagiarism - CNN.com

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Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg quit all political posts in March 2011, adding that he was"taking the step that I would expect others to take."

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2/23/2015 Plagiarism in China fuels debate on intellectual theft - CSMonitor.com

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0122/p16s02-legn.html 1/4

(/)

Plagiarism in China fuels debate onintellectual theftBy Associated Press JANUARY 22, 2002

BEIJING — Wang Mingming is a model Chinese educator - young, Western-

trained, and credited with updating the teaching of sociology.

But now, the professor at elite Peking University is better known for

something else. Dr. Wang is at the center of a plagiarism scandal, accused

of copying portions of a book by an American researcher.

The controversy is playing out in newspapers and on the Internet, fueling

arguments over academic standards in a country where shops are well-

stocked with pirated movies, music, books, and other stolen intellectual

property.

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Wang is accused of using parts of a an edition of "Cultural Anthropology," a

popular textbook by William Haviland of the University of Vermont, in his

own 1998 book. Wang translated Dr. Haviland's book into Chinese in 1987

with his permission.

The official Xinhua News Agency says Wang

has been stripped of his teaching posts.

However, the school says it is still weighing his

fate and won't give any details.

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Wang has received an outpouring of support on

the Internet, where students and others argue

that he is being treated too harshly. An online

bulletin board run by his department lists more

than 1,200 messages about him posted last

week. Many came from students who praise

Wang as an excellent teacher. They say that if

Peking University wants to set an example, it

picked the wrong target.

"How many books ... are written totally by the

authors? Even students' papers are copies of

others," said a note signed with the English

name "Tailor."

Nevertheless, said another, the professor has to be held accountable: "Wang

dug his own grave. He deserves this."

A spokesman for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government

think tank, says a scholar hasn't been punished for plagiarism in China for

at least six years. "This case has gotten a lot of attention, not because the

problem is getting worse, but because the press situation is opening up,

letting the public know the truth," says the spokesman, who did not give his

name.

The controversy contrasts with China's tolerance of fraud elsewhere.

Copying of foreign products is rampant, despite occasional crackdowns.

Executives are routinely said to lie about their education. China's supreme

court agreed last week to let shareholders sue companies that lie about

finances.

Wang was accused in December by a graduate student writing in a Shanghai

scholarly journal. The student pointed to sections of Wang's 1998 book,

"Imaginary Alien Nation," that were identical to the Chinese version of

Haviland's book.

Haviland, who retired in 1999, says Wang's translation of his book was the

first modern anthropology textbook published in China. "It's played an

important role in reviving anthropology in China," Haviland says from his

home in Maine.

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He adds that Wang wrote to him to apologize for using his material without

citing him. "I would hate to see the guy go down the tubes for what appears

to be an honest mistake."

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2/23/2015 Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism Accusations - New York Times

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March 25, 2006

Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism AccusationsBy JULIE BOSMAN

A 24-year-old blogger for The Washington Post, Ben Domenech, resigned yesterday after being confronted with evidence that he had plagiarizedarticles in other publications.

His resignation came after writing six blog items in the three days he worked for Red America, a blog that The Post created to offer aconservative viewpoint on its Web site.

Mr. Domenech — who had worked in the Bush administration and was a founder of the conservative blog RedState.com — came under heavycriticism from liberal bloggers, who called his political views extreme.

They first pointed to previous comments by Mr. Domenech, who recently called Coretta Scott King a "communist."

But by late Thursday, the bloggers had found instances of what appeared to be plagiarism, including an article by Mr. Domenech in The NewYork Press that contained passages resembling an article that ran on the front page of The Washington Post.

Evidence of one instance of plagiarism first surfaced on the liberal blog Daily Kos on Thursday. A comment posted on the blog said a passagefrom an article by Mr. Domenech was nearly identical to a chapter from P. J. O'Rourke's book, "Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for RudePeople."

Other articles that contained passages that appeared to be copied were published in National Review Online, The New York Press and The FlatHat, the student newspaper at the College of William and Mary, which Mr. Domenech attended.

Jim Brady, the executive editor of The Washington Post Web site, said that he knew that Mr. Domenech would be controversial but that abackground check before he was hired did not reveal plagiarism.

"We've been catching a lot of grief on the blogs for not catching this ourselves, but obviously plagiarism is hard to spot," Mr. Brady said. He saidThe Post planned to hire another conservative blogger in Mr. Domenech's place.

In an interview, Mr. Domenech said he never "purposefully" plagiarized but admitted that some passages in his articles were identical to thosepreviously published elsewhere.

He said one instance was the fault of an editor at the student newspaper, who he said inserted a passage from The New Yorker in an articlewithout his knowledge. In a staff editorial posted on the Web site of The Flat Hat, the student newspaper, the editors called Mr. Domenech'sactions, if true, deeply offensive.

Mr. Domenech also said that he may have mixed up his notes with articles from other authors.

"Frankly, if I had been less of a sloppy writer," he said, "this wouldn't be a problem."

He explained the passage that appeared to be copied from Mr. O'Rourke's book by saying that Mr. O'Rourke gave him permission.

Contacted at his home in New Hampshire, Mr. O'Rourke said that he had never heard of Mr. Domenech and did not recall meeting him.

"I wouldn't want to swear in a court of law that I never met the guy, Mr. O'Rourke said of Mr. Domenech, "but I didn't give him permission to usemy words under his byline, no."

Mr. Domenech works full time at Regnery Publishing, a publisher of conservative authors like Michelle Malkin and Tony Blankley. Ms. Malkin,whose latest book was edited by Mr. Domenech, posted a column on her blog yesterday that described the evidence of plagiarism as "damning"and called for Mr. Domenech to resign from The Post.

A spokeswoman for Regnery, Angela Phelps, said that while Mr. Domenech remained an employee, the company would look into theaccusations.

Mr. Domenech said he received an e-mail message from Kathryn Lopez of National Review, putting him on notice that the magazine planned toreview his previous work.

Glenn Reynolds, who writes the blog Instapundit, said the bloggers were "motivated by a desire to get" Mr. Domenech.

"They didn't like him because he was a conservative and he was given real estate at The Washington Post," he said. "Their goal was to findsomething they could use to get rid of him, and they succeeded."

2/23/2015 Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism Accusations - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/business/25post.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print 2/2

Mr. Domenech addressed his detractors yesterday in a blog post on RedState.com, where he will remain a contributor. "To my enemies: I takeenormous solace in the fact that you spent this week bashing me, instead of America," he wrote.

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