PublishAmerica author sues Stephen King for plagiarism

spike

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I wonder if the jury will have to read the two books, if this isn't dismissed. I mean, at least they'd get to see an example of a book published by a real publisher, and a PA book... that would prove that SK could not have plagiarized.


At least the PA author will sell a few books.

Then PA will come out with a promotion: "Sue a famous author, sell 15 books--$24.95"
 

MysticWolf12001

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Then PA will come out with a promotion: "Sue a famous author, sell 15 books--$24.95"

I don't think PA needs any more "bright" ideas. That would be diasterous for the PA authors; they'd be responsible for 100% of the "famous author's" and his/her publishing company's attorney fees and court costs, because surely, the PA author would lose; and those attorneys don't come cheap, probably 10s or 100s of thousands of $.
 

Little1

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When do we expect to hear back from the judge?
 

Ambri

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Wow. Talk about tunnel vision. I'd almost feel sorry for the PA author, but he brought it on himself, first by not educating himself on how to really go about becoming published, and then with this self-indulgent lawsuit against the biggest of the big Names in fiction. How do you say "stupid" in Martian?
 

absitinvidia

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well, if their rules are the same as they are here, Marquardt has 7 days to reply to that brief. Then they schedule a hearing.

[Jump all over me if I'm wrong]


When was that brief filed**? The deadline was 12 May, IIRC, so does that mean the reply deadline has passed?


**According to DreamWeaver, the reply brief was filed on 12 May.
 
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MysticWolf12001

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I'm surprised that since SK is a HUGE NAME, that there hasn't been a media frenzy. However, the lack thereof could be a result of a "no-name" author filing suit, and thus the media thinks that this a ploy to gain notoriety.
 

Little1

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I just wanted to thank y'all again for helping us stay up to date. This is def interesting in several ways and informative :)
 

allenparker

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I'm surprised that since SK is a HUGE NAME, that there hasn't been a media frenzy. However, the lack thereof could be a result of a "no-name" author filing suit, and thus the media thinks that this a ploy to gain notoriety.

I think the reason is that no one thinks he has a case.
 

JulieB

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I'm surprised that since SK is a HUGE NAME, that there hasn't been a media frenzy. However, the lack thereof could be a result of a "no-name" author filing suit, and thus the media thinks that this a ploy to gain notoriety.

Plagiarism is a serious deal, and I hate to even think that a "no name" author doesn't have a chance if he or she has a solid case.
 

Bufty

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If I recall correctly, there wasn't any media frenzy over JK Rowling's actions re plagiarism either. Sadly, I suspect plagiarism itself is not considered newsworthy - and viewed with little interest by those outside the writing world.

While the case unfolds the day-to-day content is of little general public interest. Look at the documentation available to date. It's not exactly light reading. And as someone else said - why give publicity to a nobody? Who cares?

Unless one of the parties does something newsworthy during the legal process I suspect it will remain out of the headlines. The press will be well aware of what's happening.

When there's a decision one way or the other it might get mentioned briefly then all will be forgotten again.

And for the record I do not condone plagiarism.

I'm surprised that since SK is a HUGE NAME, that there hasn't been a media frenzy. However, the lack thereof could be a result of a "no-name" author filing suit, and thus the media thinks that this a ploy to gain notoriety.
 
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TheTinCat

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Plagiarism is a serious deal, and I hate to even think that a "no name" author doesn't have a chance if he or she has a solid case.

I think the lack of interest in this is suit not so much a matter of it being a no-name than of it clearly being a downright silly claim to being with...
 

Jonathan Dalar

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Wow. Talk about tunnel vision. I'd almost feel sorry for the PA author, but he brought it on himself, first by not educating himself on how to really go about becoming published, and then with this self-indulgent lawsuit against the biggest of the big Names in fiction. How do you say "stupid" in Martian?

No kidding! I hope S&S and Stephen King take him to the $%^&ing cleaners. Stomp this sort of idiocy out and provide a warning for future such nonsense. After reading through all the "similarities", there is no way in hell King plagiarized him. The "similarities" aren't there, let alone the logistics and the whole non-existence of his friggin' PA book. And that doesn't even start to answer why such a prolific and idea-filled author such as Stephen King would even contemplate such a stupid source of inspiration.

Plagiarism is wrong. All efforts must be made to stamp it out. But something like this is simply counteractive to doing this. It would provide a very twisted view of what is able to be copyrighted and what constitutes plagiarism.

And an idiot like this guy doing something like this just makes it all the harder for hard-working, talented authors out there to do their thing.

I'm definitely rooting for a sound victory and a giant ass-whooping by the King team.
 

pangalactic

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And an idiot like this guy doing something like this just makes it all the harder for hard-working, talented authors out there to do their thing.

There's no reason to call this guy an idiot; I'd just ill-informed and naive. The people we should be taking to task are the lawyers who agreed to take the case in the first place.
 

absitinvidia

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There's no reason to call this guy an idiot; I'd just ill-informed and naive. The people we should be taking to task are the lawyers who agreed to take the case in the first place.

"Ill-informed and naive" is someone who publishes through Publish America.

"Idiot" is someone who believes that there's any way SK read this book, then decided to plagiarize it; who doesn't bother to find out what plagiarism really is; and who presumably ignores the advice of at least one attorney who tells him he doesn't have a case (I find it hard to believe he immediately found an attorney who was willing to file against SK).
 

Ink-Stained Wretch

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"Idiot" is considerably kinder than what I'm inclined to call him. On one level I can feel sorry for him -- poor, pathetic, delusional talentless hack -- but he lost any claim to sympathy the second he attempted to take his delusions and make them Stephen King's problem.
 

Old Hack

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How many of you think that calling a writer who made a mistake an idiot can be defined as "respecting your fellow writer"?

There's no reason to call this guy an idiot; I'd just ill-informed and naive. The people we should be taking to task are the lawyers who agreed to take the case in the first place.

Pangalactic got it right. Let's have no more of the name-calling, thank you.
 

Old Hack

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ISW: the writer concerned isn't a member of AW, nor is he here calling other writers idiots.

We, however, are Mac's guests. We can behave how Mac asks us to, or we can go find somewhere else to play. And if we feel that this thread is wasting our time, we're not obliged to participate in it.
 

pangalactic

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The guy's a writer.

Of that, no question.

This. Trying to say otherwise would fall under the respect rules as well, I'm pretty sure.

Let's please not turn this into a "bash the stupid PA author" thread. It's an interesting case and I for one would like to see the brief that S&S filed in response. Other than that? Nothing. I'm not interested in name-calling, especially when the person under attack isn't here to defend himself.
 

Sheryl Nantus

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I see this poor man as a victim - he bought PA's BS, hook line and sinker - and I'm sure there's been plenty of people around him encouraging him on through this process. Wouldn't surprise me if a lot of them weren't on the PA bulletin board and goading him to move with this lawsuit.

I only hope that this helps break him out of the PA abuse and moves him somewhere else. Maybe into looking for a legitimate publisher or at least moving away from PA.