Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books co-authors Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan found the texts using Google Book Search, and have posted 32 side-by-side comparisons of excerpts from Edwards’s books and nonfiction works including Land of the Spotted Eagle by Luther Standing Bear (Bison Books) and Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz (Bison Books), as well as an article from Defenders magazine, the quarterly publication of Defenders of Wildlife. Some of the texts go back as far as 1904 (The Mythology of the Wichita by George Amos Dorsey). Wendell said she and Tan have identified eight sources. In the Edwards books Wendell has examined, she found at least one instance per book of identical passages in other sources by Googling the suspect phrases, and in some books, she found multiple examples, using two or more sources.
January 12, 2008
Romance writer copies Native books
Romance Blog Suggests Romance Writer’s Plagiarism; Signet Says It’s Fair UseVeteran romance novelist Cassie Edwards is revered by her fans for her meticulous research when writing books. From Savage Torment to Savage Sunrise, her books (of which there are more than 100, published by Dorchester/Leisure Books, Signet, Harlequin and other houses) have detailed descriptions of Native American religion, weaponry, cuisine and other subjects. But this week, the romance review blog Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books called attention to some striking similarities and, in some cases, verbatim passages, between Edwards’s works and a number of nonfiction books about Native American history and customs. Signet, however, is standing by the author. A statement from a Signet spokesperson read, “Signet takes plagiarism seriously, and would act swiftly were there justification for such allegations against one of its authors. But in this case Ms. Edwards has done nothing wrong. The copyright fair-use doctrine permits reasonable borrowing and paraphrasing of another author’s words, especially for the purpose of creating something new and original.” A Dorchester rep declined to comment.
Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books co-authors Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan found the texts using Google Book Search, and have posted 32 side-by-side comparisons of excerpts from Edwards’s books and nonfiction works including Land of the Spotted Eagle by Luther Standing Bear (Bison Books) and Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz (Bison Books), as well as an article from Defenders magazine, the quarterly publication of Defenders of Wildlife. Some of the texts go back as far as 1904 (The Mythology of the Wichita by George Amos Dorsey). Wendell said she and Tan have identified eight sources. In the Edwards books Wendell has examined, she found at least one instance per book of identical passages in other sources by Googling the suspect phrases, and in some books, she found multiple examples, using two or more sources. Comment: There's no definitive test for whether something is "fair use." But one of the four commonly-used criteria is whether the use is for profit or not. Edwards's use clearly fails this criterion.
Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books co-authors Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan found the texts using Google Book Search, and have posted 32 side-by-side comparisons of excerpts from Edwards’s books and nonfiction works including Land of the Spotted Eagle by Luther Standing Bear (Bison Books) and Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz (Bison Books), as well as an article from Defenders magazine, the quarterly publication of Defenders of Wildlife. Some of the texts go back as far as 1904 (The Mythology of the Wichita by George Amos Dorsey). Wendell said she and Tan have identified eight sources. In the Edwards books Wendell has examined, she found at least one instance per book of identical passages in other sources by Googling the suspect phrases, and in some books, she found multiple examples, using two or more sources.
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5 comments:
Writerfella here --
Oh, yes, there is. BUT -- if it is published material, it cannot exceed 200 words, as when a blog writer quoted from one of writerfella's published and copyrighted magazine articles and used 237 words. That dude was called up on charges in 2003, had to pay writerfella $500, and then went to Federal jail for 60 days! writerfella doubts that that particular individual will make that particular mistake again! writerfella only can ask, next, particularly?
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
As I said, there's no definitive test for whether something is "fair use." That includes your claim about published material exceeding 200 words.
Courts weigh several factors and length is only one of them. In some cases, you could copy an entire work and a court would rule it a legitimate fair use.
In your case, length apparently was the determining factor. In other cases, something else might be the determining factor. Again, there's no one determining factor, including length.
Writerfella here --
Stuff and nonsense! Copyright matters are federal law, especially as amended by the Millennium Copyright Act. Not only is 'fair use' quoting for reprint limited therein to 200 words total, it also extended existing copyrights to the lifespan of the author. Otherwise, writerfella's early writings would have gone into the public domain beginning in 2002...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I don't need to ask to know you can't cite a source for your claim. Unfortunately for you, I can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test.
The legal concept of "copyright" was first ratified by the United Kingdom's Statute of Anne of 1709. As room was not made for the authorized reproduction of copyrighted content within this newly formulated statutory right, the courts gradually created a doctrine of "fair abridgment," which later became "fair use," that recognized the utility of such actions. The doctrine only existed in the U.S. as common law until it was incorporated into the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, reprinted here:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The four factors of analysis for fair use set forth above derive from the classic opinion of Joseph Story in Folsom v. Marsh, 9 F.Cas. 342 (1841), in which the defendant had copied 353 pages from the plaintiff's 12-volume biography of George Washington in order to produce a separate two-volume work of his own.
If this isn't sufficient, you can take my word for it. Why? Because I have a master's degree in library science and you don't. Unlike you, I've actually studied this issue.
Anything else you need me to explain about the law? If so, just let me know.
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