When does inspiration become plagiarism?

Anu Malik's views in blue.

WHEN DOES 'INSPIRATION 'BECOME 'PLAGIARISM'?

NICOLE DASTUR Times News Network

Nineteen-year-old Harvard University student Kaavya Viswanathan, who has been accused of plagiarism in her book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, admits to having 'internalised words', 'borrowed language' and 'unintentionally copied' from two novels by novelist Megan McCafferty.

The issue has kicked up a storm of sorts in the publishing world. But literature is hardly the only area where the fine line between 'inspiration' and 'copying' is blurred. It exists as much in the fields of fashion (one designer accusing another of copying) or Bollywood (where certain filmmakers are accused of ripping off Hollywood movies) or even advertising (certain foreign ads supposedly copied in an Indian context). But go into specifics and ask professionals from the creative world who have been accused of ripping off others' work, and they call their work 'inspired', rather than 'plagiarised'. So, when does inspiration actually translate into plagiarism? What is the fine line between influence and blatant imitation? BT spoke to some creative minds across the board to find out...

KIRAN NAGARKAR,
AUTHOR:
"There is no such thing as 'unintentional copying' or 'unintentional borrowing'. No doubt that often influences, even words, from other authors creep into the subconscious, but it is how those influences are assimilated into the author's unique voice that differentiates blatant copying from writing your own stuff."

SHOBHAA DE, AUTHOR:
"There is nothing ambiguous about inspiration and copying. Theft is theft, and inspiration is inspiration. In simpler terms, plagiarism is intellectual theft, and there is no justification for it. There is extreme pressure on young, upcoming writers today to write a best-seller, and get high bids on the book. There is nothing such as 'internalising other authors' works', it is called 'stealing'."

ALYQUE PADAMSEE,
THEATRE DIRECTOR: "If the plot, the characters and the dialogues are the same, then it's definitely plagiarism. However, if there are only a few similar sentences, then it could be a case of mere coincidence."

PIYUSH PANDEY,
ADMAN:
"Various situations and people constantly influence our thinking, and get subconsciously ingrained in our minds, but at the end of the day, a creative person cannot fool himself by saying his work is 'inspired'. An idea has to be refreshingly different so as not to be considered as copying."

RAKEYSH OMPRAKASH MEHRA,
DIRECTOR: "If one reproduces a general concept, something that is a way of life, then it isn't plagiarising, so long as he retains some originality. However, if it is a unique concept, the least he can do is ask permission to reproduce it in his own manner."

SANDEEP KHOSLA,
FASHION DESIGNER:
"Inspiration, or influence, is when only one element of a work is reproduced, although in a new manner, or if a generic concept is recreated. But when it's an in-your-face copy, then it's a definite case of plagiarism."

While the majority of those we spoke to felt that there was no excuse for copying, there was a view expressed by music composer Anu Malik that allowed for 'inspiration'. (Malik, in the past, has been accused of lifting tunes from music here and abroad)
ANU MALIK,
MUSIC COMPOSER:
Nothing in this world is original; no musician can deter from the basic Do Re Me Fa or Sa Re Ga Ma. Everything we do is inspired from something we've seen or heard before, but it's important that the idea is put into a new mould by the creator. Great minds do think alike, so there are chances that it could even be accidental copying. However, if a song is lifted note-to-note, or if a paragraph is copied word-to-word, or a design is the same, then it is blatant copying.


WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

THE COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957: This act protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings from unauthorised uses.

According to lawyer Gautam Patel, there is a very fine line between what is considered plagiarism, and what is merely inspired. "A lot depends on how much of the original is reproduced in another work. If large chunks of the original are copied, then it is certainly plagiarism. But if it's only a line or two, it could be accidental. Also, there is no copyright for an idea, unlike the case with patents, copyright protects the expression of an idea and not the idea itself."

Lawyer Preeti Nair adds that copyright is an inherent right of a creative person. "For instance, if I write a novel tomorrow, and if X copies parts of it, I have the right to sue him for plagiarism, even if my work is not already copyrighted."

However, there are exceptions as well. As Gautam says, "Some amount of information for research and studies, criticism, reviews and news reporting, as well as use of works in legislatures, is permitted without permission from the copyright owners."

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/

Sonya, thanx once more...I read the article in rediff.com but ur article make sense!!

peace

yea we know anu malik and plagiarism 😆 😆 😆 99% original jii 99% 😃

thanks for the article.... 😊

Originally posted by: sgr3

thanks Sonya for the article!
erm..."Great minds do think alike, so there are chances that it could even be accidental copying" 😕

Payal..great mind think alike...but they dont write word to word same....I read in another article on rediff.com that she used actually many paras from two three different books and now therez one more article that the publisher is calling back the books from this budding writer of 19 yrs of age....😃

As far as Anu Crap malik's comment on inspiration that sonya mentioned, its his ever confession that he did get 'inspiration' as sangeet has only seven 'Sur' - to saara maamla ghoom phir ke unhi suro pe aata hai😃 now the point is, why this happen just with Anu jeeeee why others are not that inspired😉
peace

There was a similar case with a Karishma Kapoor serial some time back. Barbara Taylor Bradford claimed Sahara One had plagarized one of her novels, A Woman of Substance. One of the few instances when action was actually taken.

I read the novel's summary at BN.com. It seems inspired from a lot of different novels and films besides the Megan McCafferty ones. Story seems like similar to the movie Mean Girls. But if she copied paragraphs, then that's another story.

Figures Anu Malik's opinions differs from the rest. Maybe 'copying' and 'inspiration' have different meanings in different fields, hence the reason for the difference in opinions. Or maybe Anu Malik wants to justify himself.

Originally posted by: sonyaee

There was a similar case with a Karishma Kapoor serial some time back. Barbara Taylor Bradford claimed Sahara One had plagarized one of her novels, A Woman of Substance. One of the few instances when action was actually taken.

I read the novel's summary at BN.com. It seems inspired from a lot of different novels and films besides the Megan McCafferty ones. Story seems like similar to the movie Mean Girls. But if she copied paragraphs, then that's another story.

Figures Anu Malik's opinions differs from the rest. Maybe 'copying' and 'inspiration' have different meanings in different fields, hence the reason for the difference in opinions. Or maybe Anu Malik wants to justify himself.

I was just watching a TV show which mentioned Kavya Vishwanathan and the plaigarism claim.. its really sad... VERY sad.. and with todays fast moving world, its hard to define what is copying, what is inspiration and what is pure co incidence.. to quote a simple example..if two students who are fresh coming from india to study in say the US and they are in different parts of US, if they happen to come out with a book about their experiences, they will be similar.. and if one book came out before the other, Its hard to bracket it as inspired.

I think thats what happened in her case, it was a general story which has been talked about a lot in movies, news, other media that it seems like a plaigarism issue.

Can you think of a solution for this?

Copying others work - 'plaigarism' has dire consequences even in schools here in USA. Kids who copy even small portions of someone else's work/ homework are given a big zero and if such offense continues they can even get suspended from school.
I have young children in school and even they are aware of the consequences of lifting other peoples work.
Even if is it not copied word to word over 40 passages from Kavya's book were similar to Megan McCafferty's 2 books. I can't believe thats from internalizing someone's work. She claims that she had read this 2 boooks 3-4 times each and had internalized the both the books because she has photographic memory! Give me a break - if she has photographic memory why was there a need to read these books 3-4 times?
I don't want to be too harsh on this girl because she clearly did it under pressure - maybe to meet a deadline? The publisher said that most authors don't meet the deadline given to them but Kavya finished hers on time.
She is in one royal mess and I hope she comes up with a proper apology. Her books have already been removed from the shelves and hope she doesnot get entangled into a legal mess. Its a shame.

As far as Anu Malik is concerned he is a different story. But there are a lot of music composers who copy. There is a website where they have a long list of Hindi songs and where they have been 'inspired' or 'lifted' from. Anu Malik is not the only one on the list. I will try to give a link to this website.

Good article. Just last week I was reading in an Indian paper about Kavya and told my daughter how good that Indian girl is. And this week it is a different story. I had to hide it from her.

This is the web site which gives all the inspirations/copying songs

http://www.itwofs.com/hindi-am.html

great article sonya......thanks a lot......gained something frm this article...... 👏