Kaavya Viswanathan
- Harvard Student
- Wrote How Opal Metha Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life at age 17
Megan McCafferty
- well-known author of Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings
- accused Kaavya Viswanathan of plagiarizing her books
----> Comparing the Two Books
The Harvard campus newspaper, The Crimson, published an article of 13 passages from Viswanathan's novel and compared them to McCafferty's novels:
Moneypenny was the brainy female character. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one of the other, smart of pretty. I had long resigned myself to category one, and as long as it got me to Harvard, I was happy. Execpt, it hadn't gotten me to Harvard. Clearly, it was time to switch to category two. (excerpt from Viswanathan's novel)
Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart. Guess which one I got. You'll see where it's gotten me. (excerpt from McCafferty's novel)
"When I was in High School, I read and loved the wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, which spoke to me in a way few other books did." - Kaavya Viswanathan
---> Richard A. Posner's Thought's on this case
"A crative person is apt to have a feeling of belatedness -- a feeling that thought just as creative as his predexessors ha has appeared on the scene too late; the ship has sailed; the niche he might have filled has been filled already" - Richard A. Posner
- Plagiarizing is a lack of creativity
- It is intellectual fraud when someone take ideas from someone else
-Viswanathan at first denied everything, then claimed that the copying was "unconsious" -- that she "internalized" the novels
"ORIGINALITY is dying" -- this idea may seem true in the fact that simple ideas are starting to become scarce and it's difficult for people to create something new
---> Resolution of this case
Viswanathan had to revise her book and republish them without the plagiarized passages
