After the famous Dan Brown case a budding writer Kaavya 17 years of age has been hauled up for plagiarism. Though Dan Brown won the case in the UK the ruling had clarified that he had there is no infringement of copy right.
One can be inspired by a work of history and can draw heavily from research work brown had himself said
that a novelist must "be free to draw appropriately from historical works without fear that he'll be sued."(NEW YORK TIMES)But in Kaavya's case things have turned out to be much more complex, she has been accused for nicking lines from another authors book.
While Kavya has apologized for her unconscious lifting of lines her literary career seems to be cut short due to this controversy.
Her publishers, Little Brown, announced they will withdraw her first novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life from bookstores..... she has been accused of plagiarising or copying passages/lines from Megan McCafferty's two novels Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings.
In her defense kaavya had said that it was unconscious, while one can be inspired by an author's work, but lifting of lines is copying, it is surprising none of her editors kept a watch on her work? Was it her age that made her do? the zeal to succeed and mutilate another authors works? Maybe the passages juststuck with her?
Anupamaa
