Saturday, August 21, 2010

Oh, no, Congr. Dingell sued for plagiarism over campaign slogan!

In a bit of trivia, MLive reports that Majed Moughni has sued long-serving Michigan Congressman John Dingell for plagiarism concerning the use of a campaign slogan "Make it in America." Yes, this is the same John Dingell who was involved in analyzing the O'Toole/Baltimore/Imanishi-Kari science fraud scandal long ago.

MLive quotes from a Facebook page: It makes you wonder who's running John Dingell's campaign? If John Dingell doesn't know it by know, plagiarism is illegal. College students get kicked out of colleges for plagiarism. Professors get fired for plagiarism. And yes, Mr. Dingell, politicians who "steal" ideas lose elections. Americans hate dishonesty Mr. Dingell.

Plagiarism per se is not against any federal law. Copyright infringement, which is not co-extensive with plagiarism, is actionable under federal law. SIU President Glenn Poshard plagiarized and is still SIU President. Laurence Tribe plagiarized and is still at Harvard Law. Joe Biden plagiarized at Syracuse Law School and was elected US Senator and now serves as Vice President.

MLive links to a story Would-be GOP Challenger to Rep. Dingell sues over slogan which includes the text:

In the lawsuit filed in Wayne Circuit Court, Moughni charges Dingell with "plagairism" (sic) and claims Dingell started using the phrase on July 27, months after it first appeared in February on the Facebook campaign page for Moughni.

AND

Dingell's office dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous and countered House Democrats are using the slogan as part of a wider campaign strategy for the midterm elections in the fall, a decision announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a July 7 memo.

How long will it be until a Facebook page is cited as prior art in a patent case?

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