Germany's zu Guttenberg lampooned as zu Googleberg in plagiarism controversy

Ex Patica wrote on February 21, 2011 of the zu Guttenberg plagiarism business:

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she had "full confidence" in her embattled defence minister, as a new Internet site suggested he had plagiarised around two-thirds of his legal thesis.

BUT

"Zu Guttenberg is no longer skating on thin ice. The ice has already cracked," the Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote.

But the minister, dubbed "Baron Cut-And-Paste" and "Zu Googleberg" by a gleeful press, has won backing not only from Merkel but also Horst Seehofer, the head of his Bavarian CSU party.

The zu Guttenberg mess evokes a now-infamous saying of a Harvard Law Professor that the legal business involves a culture of plagiarism. Like they say in the Harvard Business Review [HBR]: plagiarize with pride.

Previous IPBiz post

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg accused of plagiarism


And recall that famous fraudster Jan-Hendrik Schon got his (now revoked) Ph.D. at Konstanz.



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Note also a post on 22 Feb Readers weigh in on plagiarism charges against defense minister

and from DW World Defense minister renounces doctorate over plagiarism accusations :

Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg gave up his doctor title on Monday (21 Feb 2011) in the midst of an investigation into charges that he plagiarized large sections of his doctoral thesis.

Guttenberg's alma mater, the University of Bayreuth, told German public television that the defense minister had asked them to retract his doctorate in law.

Guttenberg had initially announced on Friday that he would not use his doctor title until a pending investigation by the university was completed.

Speaking at an election rally near Frankfurt, Guttenberg said a closer inspection of his thesis over the weekend led him to make the decision to give up his title permanently.

"Over the weekend I had another look at my doctorate thesis," he said. "The decision to give up my doctor title is painful."