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Tag: plagiarism

  • Beyonce Sued; Singer Claims She Stole “XO” from Him

    Beyonce Knowles may not have 99 problems, but she’s got this one.

    Beyonce’s hit song “XO” has already caused a bit of controversy over the audio snippet at the beginning of the song of the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger. But now a man has come forward claiming that the singer stole the song from him, and he says he knows how she got it.

    Ahmad Javon Lane says he recorded a song called “XOXO” and that this song is the basis for Bey’s song “XO.”

    Lane goes by the name Javon. His Facebook page says he grew up in Santa Clara, California (not to be confused with where all the vampires are), where he attended “multiple performing Arts Schools where he began really getting into music and performing.”

    Javon says he toured overseas, then moved to Atlanta where he “made his way into a room with R&B Singer Monica Brown, performing as a background singer for Monica led by ‘Ms. Crissy Collins’, long-time background singer for Beyonce Knowles-Carter.”

    Javon says his song made it to Beyonce. Now he wants $3 million.

    Here are both songs. Judge for yourself.


  • Paula Patton Left Robin Thicke Following Drug and Alcohol Issues, Plagiarism

    Paula Patton left Robin Thicke right around February of last year. Now Thicke has admitted that she left him because he was in the throes of drug addiction and alcoholism. The singer admitted recently to the Hollywood Reporter that he didn’t do one interview last year while not high, and that he also didn’t help write his 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines.’

    The children of the late Marvin Gaye filed a lawsuit against the ‘Feel Good’ singer, Pharrell Williams, and Atlanta-based rapper T.I., claiming that they plagiarized at least parts of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got to Give It Up.’ When the lawsuit was first filed, Robin Thicke insisted there had been no wrongdoing, but now has changed his stance.

    “I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio. So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted–I–I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time, nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit,” he said in a deposition in April.

    “So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I–because I didn’t want him–I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song,” he added.

    In this same deposition, Robin Thicke admits why Paula Patton left him.

    “I told my wife the truth. That’s why she left me,” he said .”When your wife leaves you, it gives you good reason to sober up.”

    Robin Thicke released his follow up album, called ‘Paula,’ dedicated to Paula Patton, in an effort to win his wife back. It doesn’t seem as though he’s had success thus far.

    Do you think Paula Patton will eventually take Robin Thicke back if he remains clean and sober or has he done too much damage to salvage their marriage?

  • CNN Fires News Editor over 50 Instances of Plagiarism

    CNN has fired a news editor after they discovered around 50 instances of plagiarism in her articles.

    Marie-Louise Gumuchian has been terminated after CNN’s internal investigation. According to the company, Gumuchian wrote frequently about international events–especially in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. She worked out of CNN’s London bureau.

    CNN says that they’ve edited out plagiarized passages from her stories, and have even had to yank some stories altogether. CNN isn’t giving any more specifics on which stories have been flagged and edited/removed.

    Here’s CNN’s full statement:

    CNN has discovered multiple instances of plagiarism by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, a former CNN news editor. She wrote frequently about international news, writing and reporting about Africa, Europe, and the Middle East from our London bureau.

    An unpublished story flagged last week during our editing process led to an internal investigation that uncovered other examples in about 50 published stories, and our investigation is ongoing.

    We’ve terminated Gumuchian’s employment with CNN, and have removed the instances of plagiarism found in her pieces. In some cases, we’ve chosen to delete an entire article.

    Trust, integrity and simply giving credit where it’s due are among the tenets of journalism we hold dear, and we regret that we published material that did not reflect those essential standards.

    We also believe in letting audiences know when we’ve remedied situations that threaten to compromise that trust.

    Gumuchian also spent some time writing for Reuters.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Carly Rae Jepsen Lost Legal Battle, Plays Cinderella

    Carly Rae Jepsen, the Canadian pop singer best known for her summer hit from 2012 Call Me Maybe, has lost a legal battle in which she was sued for plagiarism. Jepsen and her record company BMI have been ordered to pay Allyson Nichole Burnett $800,000 in royalties that her record label put into escrow pending the outcome of the court’s decision.

    Jepsen collaborated with American synthpop artist Owl City to record the 2012 hit Good Time, which Burnett claimed featured stolen sounds from her 2010 song Ah, It’s A Love Song. The court’s decision was handed out this past week. Carly Rae Jepsen hasn’t commented on it yet.

    She will, however, soon make her Broadway debut as Cinderella. Beginning on February 4th she plays the lead in the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Cinderella. She will stay with the production for a 12-week run. Shewill take the place of actress Laura Osnes who has held the lead in the musical for the past year. Fran Drescher will join Carly Rae Jepsen on stage, as she takes on the role of Cinderella’s wicked stepmother.

    Jepsen attended the Canadian College of Performing Arts after high school, where she studied performance.

    “My favourite part of the school year was our trip to New York, where we met Broadway performers and toured the theatres,” she said during a recent interview. “It’s so hopeful and inspiring. I’ve always been one to believe in the impossible, so I relate to her character completely.”

    Carly Rae Jepsen may in fact relate to Cinderella more than one might have previously imagined, now that her record label has to pay Allyson Burnett $800,000. While she certainly won’t have to scrub floors to recoup that hefty payout, she might have to take on a few more acting roles to replenish her bank account.

    Are you familiar with both songs involved in this lawsuit–both Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City’s Good Times, as well as Allyson Nichole Burnett’s Ah, It’s A Love Song? Do you think Carly Rae Jepsen is guilty of plagiarizing?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • George Zimmerman: Accused Of Plagiarism By The AP

    A couple of days ago, I asked a simple question of George Zimmerman’s latest artwork: Why on Earth was it, like the $100,000 artwork sold before it, based on a copyrighted image? Did Zimmerman honestly think that no one was going to notice? It only took me all of five seconds to find the original AP image when I wrote the article.

    One has to wonder what Zimmerman was thinking. The Associated Press would certainly be made aware of anything Zimmerman does, as he remains big news. There’s no way someone in his position could hide the fact that he used an AP photo to try and make thousands of dollars.

    Predictably, it didn’t take the AP long to find out what he had done and to send a firmly worded letter to Zimmerman’s attorney, Jayne Weintraub.

    “George Zimmerman clearly directly copied an AP photo to create his painting of Florida State Attorney Angela Corey.”

    The AP Photo, as noted in my previous article, was taken by freelance photographer Rick Wilson. Congrats Wilson, it’s looking like Zimmerman will not be fleecing you after all!

    This drama is far from over, as Zimmerman is now threatening to sue the Associated Press for daring to stomp on his newly found artistic freedom.

    He lashed out via Twitter with the following remark:

    I’m sure the AP is shaking in their boots at that.

    In all seriousness, Zimmerman might want to think twice before tangling with the AP, as this is not their first time taking on an artist for copyright infringement.

    Artist Shepard Fairey found himself at the center of legal troubles in 2009 over the far more famous and valuable Obama images that gained international attention and familiarity during his first campaign. The matter would be settled out of court in 2011 for roughly $1.6 million. This in addition to a fine and community service.

    This should be an interesting case where “fair use” is concerned, and could prove to be a landmark decision should the matter go to court.

    Again I say to Zimmerman: Stick figures. Draw stick figures. Someone will buy your art and you won’t find yourself sued into a hole in the ground.

    UPDATE: Apparently Jayne Weintraub no longer represents George Zimmerman, and has responded that she had forwarded the AP’s cease-and-desist letter to her former client.

    Image via Robert Zimmerman Jr.

  • Jim Carrey’s Ex, Jenny McCarthy, Addresses Shia LaBeouf Insults

    The Internet death rumors that were made about Jim Carrey on Tuesday were suspected to stem from Shia LaBeouf’s comment on Twitter Monday.

    The feud between the two all started at the Golden Globe Awards.

    Carrey made a playful reference to LaBeouf’s plagiarism scandal of the 2012 film “HowardCantour.com,” which was clearly based off of the comic Justin M. Damiano by Daniel Clowes.

    “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard … I believe it was Shia LaBeouf who said that,” Carrey said jokingly.

    After Carrey had made his remark, the ex-Disney star had a rebuttal of his own in which he posted to Twitter:   

    What made matters worst is that LeBeouf insulted Carrey’s parenting skills by throwing his daughter Jane into the equation.

    “At least I don’t get arrested for indecency on major LA highways! Or abandon love child’s,” the 27-year-old said in a tweet.

    LaBeouf, however, later tweeted again apologizing to Jane’s parents for his insensitive remarks. Both tweets have since then been removed.

    Now that that the insults are out in the open, another celebrity has something to say about the beef. In Tuesday’s segment of The View, Carrey’s former girlfriend Jenny McCarthy was furious about the comment made by LaBeouf: (image)

    “You can attack myself, but don’t bring my children into it. And I’m sure it’s the same for Jim…We dated for five years and I got to know his daughter, Jane, who is a lovely, lovely girl. It’s completely uncalled for and wrong. Jim is a great father. He loves Jane more than anything in the world. Shia did apologize and Jim did take it, but the whole thing is, do not bring our children into it.” 

    Oddly enough, just two weeks ago LaBeouf made a public apology to Clowes prior to announcing his retirement from the public-eye on Friday 10.

    On Monday he even tweeted what seem to be a bitter statement about his celebrity status.

    Carrey has yet to respond.

    Image via Youtube

  • Shia LaBeouf Could Face Legal Action Over Plagiarism

    Shia LaBeouf recently got himself into some trouble over a short film that he made. He debuted a short film called Howardcantor.com online, and it was quickly revealed that he had borrowed the same idea for a film that had already been used without giving credit.

    While it seems like something that most people learn in middle or high school, Shia LaBeouf seems to have overlooked the ethics of borrowing another person’s idea somehow. As a result, he could be facing legal trouble. He copied the story from a 2007 graphic novella called Justin M. Damiano by Daniel Clowes.

    Daniel Clowes is currently exploring his legal options, as the new story by Shia LaBeouf seems to reflect the original almost exactly.

    The short was taken down shortly after its release, and following that, he went on Twitter to address the claims of plagiarism. As if that wasn’t enough, some people that saw his apology even claim that he had plagiarized that from the internet, giving the same excuse of why Picasso had copied.

    The short film, which was debuted online by LaBeouf on Monday, tells the story of an anguished online film critic, and he is played by comedian Jim Gaffigan. The film began its circulation in the festival circuit hitting festivals such as Cannes in 2012, but did not officially reach the public until it was posted online this week, gaining the attention of Daniel Clowes.

    Shia LaBeouf did mention that the work was his inspiration, and he is embarrassed that he forgot to give credit in a rant on Twitter. However, Reynolds said that he has still failed to reach out to Clowes and personally apologize for what he did.

    Image via Twitter

  • Shia Labeouf Might Face Legal Action For Plagiarism

    Who knew plagiarizing another persons work could result in legal ramifications? Almost everyone, but maybe not Shia Labeouf.

    On Monday, Labeouf debuted his short film Howard Cantour online and many people noticed the story line was similar to something they had read before.

    The story line of Howard Cantour “examines the life of an anguished online film critic.” That familiar story line could be found in the 2007 graphic novella Justin M. Damiamo by Daniel Clowes.

    Now it looks like Clowes may be looking to take legal action against Labeouf. According to Fantographics’ Eric Reynolds, Clowes’ publisher, the writer “is exploring his legal options.”

    Reynolds was “baffled” when he found out about LaBeouf plagiarizing Clowes’ work. “LaBeouf changed the name of the main character, but he used the comic as a direct script and storyboard. Clowes has a real melodramatic voice that is very idiosyncratic and LaBeouf just used the dialogue word for word. There is no ambiguity. There is no way that anybody wrote this but Dan Clowes. It just defies any kind of logic or good sense. This was so blatant and inexcusable that it was as baffling as it was appalling.”

    Labeouf took to his Twitter on Tuesday to apologize for plagiarizing Clowes’ work, explaining that he was sorry for not giving credit to Clowes during the process of making his short film and regretted plagiarizing his work.

    The actor has continued to apologize and talk about the plagiarism on Twitter.

    Even though Labeouf has flooded his Twitter account with apologies, Reynolds says he hasn’t reached out to Clowes to apologize to him directly. Said Reynolds, “As far as I know the only comments he has given were those late night Twitter comments a few nights ago.”

    The short film has since been taken down from the website.

    Image via Labeouf’s official Twitter account.

  • Shia LaBeouf Addresses Plagiarism Claims on Twitter

    The one thing no writer wants to be accused of is plagiarism, and that is exactly what has landed Shia LaBeouf in hot water this week. LaBeouf’s short film Howard Cantour was released online yesterday, and it wasn’t long before the plagiarism claims started rolling in. After people said that LaBeouf’s film ripped off Daniel Clowes’ comic Justin M. Damiano, the Howard Cantour video was pulled from public access. LaBeouf has since apologized for his oversight on Twitter and says he “f***ed up.”

    Howard Cantour was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012, but was only released for public viewing on Monday. The short film, like Justin M. Damiano, is about the power a critic holds over one’s career. According to Buzzfeed, not only was LaBeouf’s story similar to Clowes’, it also took direct quotes from the comic.

    For example, LaBeouf’s film opens with the same narration as Clowes’ comic: “A critic is a warrior, and each of us on the battlefield have the means to glorify or demolish (whether a film, a career, or an entire philosophy) by influencing perception in ways that if heartfelt and truthful, can have far-reaching repercussions.”

    Clowes says that he was “shocked” after viewing Howard Cantour. “The first I ever heard of the film was this morning when someone sent me a link. I’ve never spoken to or met Mr. LaBeouf,” Clowes said. “I’ve never even seen one of his films that I can recall–and I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work. I actually can’t imagine what was going through his mind.”

    According to Shia LaBeouf, he simply forgot to credit Clowes for inspiring his work. Check out LaBeouf’s Twitter apology below.

    Do you buy Shia LaBeouf’s story that he was “inspired” by Clowes’ work and didn’t copy it? Add your comments below.

    Image via YouTube

  • Rachel Maddow and Rand Paul Trading Blows Again

    Rachel Maddow and Rand Paul are back to trading blows, with Maddow calling out Paul for plagiarism. This certainly isn’t anything new between the television host and the Kentucky senator. They have been at heated odds for years.

    The Christian Science Monitor says Paul is in big trouble if he decides to throw his hat into the 2016 presidential campaign. He, however, has tried (rather unsuccessfully, according to most people) downplaying his plagiarism, attributing it to the way a high school student might become too comfortable with the convenience of Wikipedia.

    Maddow was the first person to report instances of Rand Paul’s plagiarism in his speeches. Multiple media outlets followed suit, by uncovering similar instances in other speeches.

    “The terrible hometown press that Rand Paul is getting right now might explain why the senator is melting down over this issue,” Maddow said. “Now he’s come to the point where he is threatening to quit and leave politics altogether unless people stop criticizing him over his plagiarism problems and reporting on them.”

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/rachel-maddow-rand-paul-plagiarism-accusations-99516.html#ixzz2kMOZhlXw
    Lest Americans forget, however, then-Senator Joe Biden was caught plagiarizing and the result was his withdrawal from the 1988 presidential campaign. Oh, boy. Look where he is now.

    Rachel Maddow is absolutely right for calling out Rand Paul. If politicians can lie their way into the White House, then where is the United States headed? Oh, wait–that happens on a pretty regular basis these days. Still she should be commended for her attempt at instilling truth into government.

    Time magazine has highlighted some of the goings-on between Rachel Maddow and Rand Paul in the past few years. One interesting example follows.

    “I think you’re an intelligent person. I like being on your show. But I think that — what is the totality of what I’m saying? Am I a bad person? Do I believe in awful things? No, I really think that discrimination and racism is a horrible thing and I don’t want any form of it in our government, in our public sphere,” Paul said to Maddow on her show back in 2010.

    Should Rachel Maddow and Rand Paul simply agree to disagree? Absolutely not! She needs to lean on him hard–as do other talk show hosts and reporters–until the truth is fully revealed.

    In defense of Rand Paul, however, his office has admitted that some material in some of his speeches wasn’t properly vetted. They are pledging to use a new process in his speechwriting from this point on.

    In addition, Paul and his staff call Rachel Maddow’s accusations politically motivated. She has also been dubbed the footnote police.

    Photo via Wikimedia

  • Plagiarism Charges Against Rand Paul Could Hurt 2016 Presidency Chances

    There is perhaps no topic that is preached more in college than plagiarism. The heinous act of plagiarism is hammered by professors so hard that some students become nervous writers and over-cite. However, there are also those students who seem to simply not grasp the concept of plagiarism. Despite how often professors and students fret about lifting another’s words and passing them as one’s own, many students continue to keep turnitin.com in business through their copying antics. Rand Paul must have been one of those students.

    The media firestorm against Paul started when Rachel Maddow reported that Paul had lifted part of his speech to Liberty University from the Wikipedia entry on the movie Gattaca. Paul’s speech read as follows: “In the not-too-distant future, eugenics is common, and DNA plays a primary role in determining your social class.” Meanwhile, the Wikipedia entry reads, “In “the not-too-distant future”, eugenics is common, and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class.”

    From last Monday night forward, things have not been good for Rand Paul. Through a series of investigations, Paul has been charged with plagiarizing from multiple sources in various mediums. For instance, Paul copied Wikipedia once before when he gave a speech on immigration policy. This time, he lifted from the entry on the movie Stand and Deliver. When Buzzfeed, the site which originally reported this plagiarism charge, contacted Paul’s office for comment, they responded in a way which downplayed the seriousness of the accusation:

    “In the course of a 25 minute speech, Senator Paul described the plot of a movie attributed it to the primary sources – the movie – in no way insinuating they were his own thoughts or ideas. If the text had been submitted for academic publication, of course it would have been footnoted. Only in Washington is something this trivial a source for liberal media angst.”

    Okay – so Paul lifted parts of speeches from two Wikipedia articles. One has to cut him some slack since he is an extremely busy politician, right? Wrong. Soon after Buzzfeed discovered that Paul had lifted from Wikipedia once before, they also discovered that Paul had plagiarized 1,318 words / 3 pages from the conservative think-tank, The Heritage Foundation, in his book, Government Bullies.

    In all fairness, though, Paul did include the following note in his endnotes section:

    “This book is not an investigative book. Many of the stories told and information reported represent work already done by others. Rather than endlessly noting multiple sourced items mixed in with personal conversations and research, we have included here other sources of information for the stories presented.”

    Regardless, one can imagine the outrage when The Heritage Foundation found out about Paul stealing their work, right? Wrong again: “We like when people cite our work. We wish more progressives would cite our work, maybe then they wouldn’t be so progressively wrong,” stated Mike Gonzalez, vice president of communications for The Heritage Foundation.

    The response from the Cato Institute, another organization that Paul had plagiarized from, was similar to that of the Heritage Foundation: “Our ideas got in the book, we got credited in the notes. So that seems like a good thing for a think tank,” said David Boaz, the executive vice president of the Cato Institute.

    In addition to the examples above, Paul has also been caught plagiarizing an op-ed piece for The Washington Times from an article published in The Week (Who, just like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, responded favorably, saying, ““We’ve always known that the audience of The Week consists of smart, busy people who want to feel even smarter, including a lot of people on Capitol Hill. We’d like to thank Sen. Paul for his endorsement.”), parts of an AP release, and information from conservative group Focus the Family when discussing DC’s voucher system.

    With all of these very serious allegations, one would think Rand Paul and his office would be worried, right? And one would be wrong once again: “In the course of lengthy speeches, Sen. Paul has described facts and relayed examples that, of course, had been reported first elsewhere – in no way insinuating they were his own thoughts or ideas. If the text had been submitted for academic publication, of course it would have been footnoted. Only in Washington is something this trivial a source for liberal media angst,” stated Paul adviser Doug Stafford.

    In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week,” Paul downplayed the charges once again, trying to cast those who have discovered the instances of plagiarism as “haters”: “In some of the other things that are now going to pop up under thousands of things I’ve written, yeah, there are times when they have been sloppy or not correct or we’ve made an error. But the difference is, I take it as an insult and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting. I have never intentionally done so… But I think I’m being unfairly targeted by a bunch of hacks and haters. And I’m just not going to put up with people casting aspersions on my character.”

    Paul then took things one step too far by uttering the following inane statement: “If dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it would be a duel challenge. But I can’t do that, because I can’t hold office in Kentucky then.”

    After this entire series of events, it is difficult to decide which is worse: The fact that Paul is plagiarizing so rampantly, or the fact that those he is plagiarizing from simply don’t care and actually see the act as a good thing. It is shocking to see so many accept the unethical acts perpetuated by a United States Senator. It is especially upsetting that Paul and his nonchalant attitude towards plagiarizing represents the state of Kentucky, a state which already faces an uphill battle for proper recognition due to its poorly educated populace and deplorable school systems.

    So, Mr. Paul, take a risk with that duel. Kentucky and the rest of the nation would most likely welcome any potential solution to their current political woes.

    (Also, let’s not forget that Joe Biden’s 1988 Presidential run was ended by plagiarism allegations. Bye, bye Rand Paul 2016 Presidential bid.)

    Image via Facebook

  • Zynga Defends Game Development Strategy

    As we reported last week, Zynga was accused of straight up stealing the ideas in Tiny Tower for their new game Dream Heights. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus wrote an internal memo defending their style of game development. That memo has now leaked online via Forbes.

    The memo starts out nice enough with Pincus congratulating his mobile team for making some of the most popular games on Facebook and iOS. He also details plans for the mobile team to launch more titles across more platforms in the near future.

    Then he gets into the accusations that the company steals ideas from other companies:

    Google didn’t create the first search engine. Apple didn’t create the first mp3 player or tablet. And, Facebook didn’t create the first social network. But these companies have evolved products and categories in revolutionary ways. They are all internet treasures because they all have specific and broad missions to change the world.

    We don’t need to be first to market. We need to be the best in market. There are genres that we’re going to enter because we know our players are interested in them and because we want and need to be where players are. We evolve genres by making games free, social, accessible and highest quality.

    With regard to Dream Heights and the tower genre, it’s important to note that this category has existed since 1994 with games like Sim Tower and was more recently popularized in China with Tower of Babel in 2009 which achieved 15 million DAUs. On iOS there has been Yoot Tower, Tower Up, Tower Town, Tower Blocks and Tiny Tower. Just as our games, mechanics and social innovations have inspired and accelerated the game industry, its 30 year body of work has inspired us too.

    He admits that none of their games were the first to market, but they made them “the most fun and social, and the most popular.”

    Pincus goes on to say that he believes in the potential of social gaming to overtake television as the “most engaging medium of the 21st century.” He then details what he hopes Zynga can achieve in the gaming market:

    In order to make this vision real, we need to work as a company and an industry to continue innovating, improving and hopefully revolutionizing every major genre of games for social play. Every successful game from developers big and small has pioneered some important new facet of this experience. We are proud of the mechanics we have pioneered that are now industry standards.

    Part of what makes our industry cool and dynamic is the idea that small teams can build successful games. But at Zynga we will continue to innovate and expand our possibility space in order to delight our player base too.

    This response seems somewhat subdued considering that Pincus is more famously known for saying, “I don’t want fucking innovation. You’re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.”

    As much as Pincus defends his company, the point still stands that they have made a living off of taking other developer’s ideas. While it’s common in the game industry to be inspired by other games like Darksiders being inspired by The Legend of Zelda and God of War, Zynga games feel like they just lift the code and replace the art.

    In the end, however, it’s up to the gamer to decide who to support. Zynga has the marketing muscle behind their games, but indie developers can make a strong case for their original games by making a stink like NimbleBit did last week.

  • Tiny Tower Dev Calls Out Zynga For Copying Their Game

    Tiny Tower Dev Calls Out Zynga For Copying Their Game

    Zynga, makers of fine Facebook and mobile games, makes a living by taking an established game idea and making it their own.

    This has led to accusations over the years that Zynga flat-out copies games from their competitors. Zynga’s new game, Dream Heights, is taking fire for blatantly copying Tiny Tower, a popular iOS game from last year.

    NimbleBit, makers of Tiny Tower, took to Twitter to congratulate Zynga on the launch of their new game.

    @eeen
    Ian Marsh    Dear @Zynga, https://t.co/Sm16beh3 12 hours ago via Twitterrific for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    What makes this even more strange is that NimbleBit went on to say that Zynga once attempted to acquire the company. When that fell through, Zynga probably felt compelled to make their own tower management game to compete with the popular iPhone game.

    @eeen
    Ian Marsh    @NissaCam @nicholsonb They did go the honest route and try to acquire us first. 13 hours ago via Twitterrific for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    Apple has traditionally not enforced any rules on the app store in regards to blatant plagiarism and they probably won’t this time either. This just shows that Zynga is once again trying to capitalize on a good idea. Let’s just hope that Tiny Tower doesn’t get forgotten if Dream Heights gets too big.

    NimbleBit created a humorous “infographic” comparing the two games. It’s up to you to decide if Zynga took the dirty route and blatantly copied Tiny Tower.

    zynga

  • Fast Company Exposes Plagiarism on Amazon

    As I reported yesterday, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is big business. Amazon is putting more money into the payout pool for the Kindle Owners Lending Library and many amateur authors are getting in on the action.

    But, as Fast Company reports, there’s always someone out to game the system, and even a giant like Amazon has trouble swatting all the bugs in the barn.

    The game afoot has come to light, firstly at least, in the erotica section of Amazon. Authors were noticing that their own works that had sold well elsewhere were being surpassed by fiction titles that were of very poor quality, even containing spelling errors in the titles. This led to a further look, and upon closer examination some major fouls were uncovered.

    One author was found to have 40 titles in the store, but the contents were copied and pasted from other sources, ranging from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” to copies of user-submitted erotic fiction from online forums. Pasting from erotic websites was not unusual, it turns out. Other authors were found, upon closer examination, to have done the same thing.

    And, it’s not just the steamy stuff either. Older works now in the public domain have been pasted in, retitled, and sold as original works. Books on health insurance, advice for senior citizens, and cookbooks have all been found to be plagiarized outright from other authors, many of whom are so small that they do not have the resources to fight a copyright battle in court.

    That this kind of behavior is happening under Amazon’s nose might seem shocking to folks who have done business with them over the years, especially those associated with Amazon’s affiliate programs. Affiliates commonly spread stories of hair-trigger account suspensions for violating terms of service. It often seems that Amazon will shoot first – ask questions later – when it comes to affiliates.

    But, suspending affiliates keeps Amazon from paying out money tallied up fraudulently. Quashing plagiaristic works on its virtual shelves may not be a priority since they have nothing to lose. If enough complaints come in on a particular title, they can remove that title, even sanction an author. But, they still have profited from the sale.

    Some people point to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act now under consideration as a means to stop this activity. But, many people see that approach as going after a fly with a sledgehammer. Too much damage would be done to the surrounding structure to make it wise.

    Amazon has an email address that authors can submit complaints to if they wish to report plagiarism. But, there are tools available that can recognize text lifted from other sources. Businesses that solicit original material from article authors commonly check for plagiarism using little more than the almighty Google machine. That’s how some of the complaining authors in Amazon’s erotic fiction section found out their competitors’ trespasses. If Amazon wanted to be proactive in defending its legitimate authors, it could with little inconvenience.