Plagiarism! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Haley lost and settled out-of-court

Haley claimed to have been a descendant of characters in his book but this was proven false by researchers Elizabeth and Gary Milles. "Roots" was found to have 81 passages that had been 'borrowed'. Courlander was awarded $650,000.

Haley's work has been not included in the "Norton Anthology of African-American Literature". The reason given is "Roots is a work of the imagination rather than strict historical scholarship".

Haley's "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (1965) was regarded a major work. He also worked for "Playboy" magazine and conducted the first interview with Miles Davis.

Answer: Dan Brown

The book in question was "The Da Vinci Code", which was not only a best seller but a highly successful film. Perdue felt that the distribution of these should be blocked. However, he lost in court. The presiding judge said "The average lay observer would not conclude that "The Da Vinci Code" is substantially similar to "Daughter of God". Any slightly similar elements are on the level of generalised or otherwise unprotectable ideas."

Answer: James Cameron

Cameron claimed his movie "The Terminator" was inspired personally. Harlan Ellison believed some elements were similar to two episodes Ellison wrote for "The Outer Limits". Orion Pictures settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and story credit. Later Cameron, who was angered by the credit given to Ellison, admitted in "Starlog Magazine" that Ellison's "Soldier" and "Demon With a Glass Hand" could have been the inspiration for "The Terminator", although he reiterated that they were not.

Answer: George Harrison

The case (filed Feb. 10, 1971) involving the plagiarism of The Chiffon's song "He's So Fine" by George Harrison in his song "My Sweet Lord" took years to resolve. Allegations centered on the similarity of the melody between the songs. Eventually, judgment was awarded by the court in favor of Bright Tunes Music Corporation, which owned the rights to the song.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - George Harrison's one time manager and advisor for the first phase of the plagiarism case was Allen Klein. After that first phase of the case was concluded Klein purchased Bright Tunes Music Corporation thereby becoming the plaintiff in the case! The final judgment in the case was that Harrison would purchase Bright Tunes Music Corporation from Klein for $587,000. However, this judgment was contested by Harrison, which resulted in ten more years of litigation with the end result being that the decision was upheld.

A BIZARRE FOOTNOTE - In an effort to cash in on the notoriety of the plagiarism case the Chiffons recorded a rendition of "My Sweet Lord" in 1975.

Answer: Osama Bin Laden

Bin Laden, who established Al-Qaeda, a militant Islamic sect, is believed to be have been behind several terrorist attacks including the 9/11 tragedy. He was the son of a wealthy Saudi, and he used his resources to plan terrorism attacks around the globe. He was killed in an attack on his compound in Pakistan.

Answer: Recognized her error and made acknowledgement

Dowd claimed at first that someone told her about the content of the blog and it was in her head. An examination of the paragraph in the blog and Dowd's column showed that they were identical except for a couple of words. She admitted the error and a retraction was made.

Dowd still has continued to write one of the best political columns with always a clever turn of a phrase and humor.

Answer: Stephen Ambrose

Since the initial accusation of plagiarism ("The Wild Blue"/2001) Stephen Ambrose and his works have been under close scrutiny. Literary investigations have revealed further transgressions, suggesting that Ambrose was liberal in pirating the work of other writers. Even when citing the work of other authors Ambroses' citations did not fully encompass the range, scope, and/or even passages that he lifted from them. What Ambrose would think of these developments is largely unknown as he succumbed to lung cancer shortly after the controversy began (d. October 13, 2002).

Answer: H. G. Wells

Florence Deeks sued H. G. Wells for his plagiarism of her work, but failed to win her case. There were also other allegations of intellectual theft made against Wells. However, none of these allegations impeded his career in the literary community. Wells had a long, prolific, financially rewarding career as an author.

Answer: T.S. Eliot

Rather than being shunned as a plagiarist, T. S. Eliot's thievery was considered by many as being an homage to other writers! In fact, "The Wasteland" is a modernist poem by Eliot consisting of little more than the stringing together of snippets gleaned from other writers' works. No wonder Eliot suffered from a nervous disorder as he must have been aware that there were plenty of writers that surely had little appreciation for his theft of their intellectual property.

Answer: Helen Keller

Keller's story was very similar to Margaret Canby's "The Frost Fairies". Keller did not remember reading Canby's work. She was brought before the Board of the Perkins Institute for the Blind and was exonerated by one vote.

Contrary to popular myth, Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf but was struck by meningitis at 18 months leaving her without sight or sound. Anne Sullivan was the therapist who brought her into communication with the outside world. Keller was well-traveled and outspoken. As a member of the Socialist Party, she campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and other socialist causes.