Oprah Sued For Copyright Infringement After Quoting A Book On TV Without Credit
from the taking-on-Oprah,-huh? dept
A guy named Charles Harris, who wrote a political booklet about the process by which America elects Presidents, is apparently suing Oprah Winfrey for copyright infringement, saying that she "plagiarized" his work, when she quoted it on her TV show, without crediting him. Basically, the guy had sent copies of the booklet to Winfrey, hoping to get some free publicity out of it. However, on one show she apparently (he alleges) directly read aloud some questions from his booklet, but did so without crediting him. Of course, plagiarism, by itself, isn't against the law, so he's trying to twist this into a copyright lawsuit, saying she had no license to read the questions aloud. You can see the filing below:Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: charles harris, copyright, oprah winfrey, plagiarism
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Could go two ways...
Or...Oprah could fight this. Who the heck wants to risk fighting Oprah? That's like picking a fight with Chuck Norris.
One way or another, I think this is going to quietly go away - and we are pretty likely to never hear from this guy again.
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Re: Could go two ways...
Did you just say Oprah is like Chuck Norris?!?
Which alternate universe do you hail from, traveler?
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Re: Re: Could go two ways...
Now I really want a graphic novel version of Chuck Norris vs. Oprah Winfrey
While each of their powers are formidable, I'm thinking Chuck could lay a real good debunking on her in a street fight...
Might not be Superman v. Green Lantern....
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Re: Re: Could go two ways...
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Re: Could go two ways...
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Re: Could go two ways...
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Re: Re: Could go two ways...
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And so I do.
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I predict his next book...
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Attention?
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Yet another example...
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If this is a call for attention
Do you think random Joe feels like he should buy the booklet?
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Re: If this is a call for attention
If this guy lined his dominoes up before this all started he could sue everyone who even mentions the story!
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Re: Plagiarism v. Copyright Infringement
There is, in fact, a legally cognizable cause of action for "plagiarism" if the plagiarist appropriated material submitted to the plagiarist by someone who, based on the circumstances, could reasonably assume that the material would not be used w/o permission.
The field of law is "idea submission law" and the cause of action sounds in contract -- NOT copyright as it appears this plaintiff is asserting. See, for example, http://goo.gl/qlJo .
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Re: Re: Plagiarism v. Copyright Infringement
And no, I'm not going to define 'wall.'
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How it should go...
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Guy suing Oprah
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