Sez silly suits are fodder for routine
New York Post Aug 28, 08 12:42 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Jerry Seinfeld insisted yesterday that he didn’t slander a woman suing his wife for cookbook plagiarism because silly lawsuits are fodder for good comedy. The comic cited episodes from Seinfeld as well as his kid-friendly Bee Movie in a court filing as examples of the First Amendment-protected comedic license to poke fun at the legal system, the New York Post reports.
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Teacher rejects allegations as conspiracy
CNN Jun 25, 08 11:16 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A Columbia University professor who last year sparked racial controversy after finding a noose hanging from her door has been fired over allegations of plagiarism, CNN reports. Madonna Constantine, a faculty member at the university’s Teachers College, claims the decision is the result of a plot against her.
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Brooklyn band claims Brit rockers lifted
Viva la Vida tune
Independent (UK) Jun 19, 08 3:59 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Coldplay is hotly denying allegations of plagiarism from a Brooklyn-based indie band, the Independent reports. Members of the Creaky Boards say the melody of the British band's new album's title track Viva la Vida was lifted from a tune of theirs called The Songs I Didn't Write. Coldplay members insist they were in the studio the night the Yanks claim they saw Chris Martin listening to the song at one of their gigs.
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Cyrus tune sounds awfully familiar
New York Post May 16, 08 10:45 AM CDT
(Newser)
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It’s not easy being a rockstar. Just ask Miley Cyrus, who’s just finished apologizing for sultry Annie Leibovitz shots that shocked some of her fans (or at least their parents) and now is being accused of ripping off her new song “Rockstar,” the New York Post reports. The band Lustra says the song is too similar to their “Scotty Doesn’t Know” to be a coincidence, and they’re mulling legal action against Cyrus. Miley’s response? “She doesn’t write the songs—she sings them,” says her rep. “We have referred this to Disney.”
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Church tries to curb problem of online sermon swiping
Guardian (UK) Apr 26, 08 5:20 PM CDT
(Newser)
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If Polish priests don’t stop their plagiarizing ways, they could be slapped with a fine or even thrown in jail for 3 years, church authorities warn. Uninspired priests have been swiping their homilies off the Internet, and “unfortunately the practice has become more usual than not,” said Father Wieslaw Przyczyna, who opposes the “unethical” pilfering.
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Hillary says opponent's pilfering all her best ideas
Chicago Tribune Apr 21, 08 4:32 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Hillary Clinton's campaign is fuming at what it perceives as Barack Obama's plagiarism of its policy ideas, the Chicago Tribune reports. "I came up with that a year ago,” Clinton said of the stimulus package her rival is boosting. Obama's formula, her advisers argue, is glomming onto a Clinton idea, adding extra millions, and pitching it as his own.
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He admits he got confused reading it
to his grandkids
Daily Telegraph (UK) Apr 17, 08 7:59 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The judge in the Harry Potter copyright case gave the man who compiled The Harry Potter Lexicon a one-up against JK Rowling today when he announced that her books were full of gibberish, the Telegraph reports. He said he tried reading one to his grandkids and found it "extremely complex" and suggested that a guidebook would be handy. He won't issue his ruling for several weeks and urged both sides to settle out of court.
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Writer dealt drugs, took freebies, and oh yeah, never visited Colombia
Australia's News Network Apr 14, 08 4:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Lonely Planet guidebook executives are reeling in the wake of memoir confessions by one of their authors that he fabricated or plagiarized parts of the books—and dealt drugs to fund his trips. Thomas Kohnstamm also writes in Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? that he flouted guidebook policy by accepting free travel. “They don’t pay enough for what they expect the authors to do,” he told Australia's Herald Sun .
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U of Chicago refutes Clinton claim; liberal blog backs off McCain plagiarism allegation
Politico Mar 28, 08 4:28 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Barack Obama was indeed a professor at the University of Chicago's law school, the school said today. The Clinton campaign and the Sun-Times have said otherwise, but academic semantics back the onetime senior lecturer. The university said that title did qualify Obama as a professor—and the law school had even offered him a tenure-track position.
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Point person on faith-based initiatives stole for his columns
Indianapolis Star Mar 1, 08 2:21 PM CST
(Newser)
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A White House aide who helped establish President Bush’s faith-based community initiative resigned yesterday after admitting he plagiarized portions of columns he submitted to an Indiana newspaper, the Indianaopolis Star reports. The News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne found that 20 columns by Tim Goeglein, who had served in the White House Office of Public Liaison since 2001, had portions lifted from other sources.
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Obama camp claims Clinton lifted from Edwards
New Republic Feb 22, 08 7:19 AM CST
(Newser)
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Hillary Clinton wisecracked last night that Barack Obama was promising "change you can Xerox"—prompting the Obama camp to suggest Clinton may have cribbed part of that speech from John Edwards, writes Isaac Chotiner in the New Republic . It was the latest battle in the heated war of lifted words after Obama admitted copying phrases from a former Massachusetts governor.
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She calls school probe a racist conspiracy
New York Post Feb 21, 08 5:21 PM CST
(Newser)
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The Columbia professor who made headlines when she found a noose on her office door has plagiarized from students and another professor, the school says. The university’s Teachers College found two dozen instances in which Madonna Constantine stole from other's works in articles published under her name. Constantine, who's been given an unspecified punishment, calls the charges “structural racism,” reports the New York Post .
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He says same of her, but admits he 'should have' credited lines
Chicago Tribune Feb 18, 08 6:48 PM CST
(Newser)
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Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama of plagiarism today over a speech he gave two nights ago, the Swamp blog reports. Obama retaliated by hitting Hillary with five instances of her robbing his words, including "Yes, we can" and "Bring this country together." But the Illinois senator later admitted to lifting phrases from a 2006 speech by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
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Comic's lawyers say suit is about nothing
The Smoking Gun Jan 8, 08 1:05 PM CST
(Newser)
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The author who blasted Jessica Seinfeld for allegedly stealing her cookbook ideas slapped Seinfeld and her funnyman hubby with a lawsuit today, simultaneously accusing Jerry Seinfeld of defaming her character, the Smoking Gun reports. After Missy Chase Lapine accused his wife of plagiarizing her book, The Sneaky Chef, Jerry Seinfeld called her "hysterical" on David Letterman's show, comparing her to "wackos," stalkers, and assassins.
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Christian Science Monitor Apr 10, 07 4:16 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Four teenage students are suing an antiplagiarism website for the rights to their schoolwork, arguing that they were forced to turn over original work without compensation, the Christian Science Monitor reports. When their school adopted an antiplagiarism service called Turnitin, students were required to submit essays to be stored and compared against millions of others in a database.
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