Entertainment

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Profiles in Plagiarism: Entertainment

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Apple Computer, Inc.

Blue: Guarded Risk

Computers for non-PC users;

Is this another case of a "cross-promotional" gimmick, something akin to those viral ads which pop up now and then, taking on a life of their own as Internet surfers endlessly replicate an image/video in blogs, chatrooms and discussion boards?

Duncan Rawlinson of the Last Minute Blog posted these side-by-side images of the latest Apple Intel promo which "features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for Such Great Heights made by the same film-makers for the original" (Postal Service's Ben Gibbard quoted in contactmusic.com article "Postal Service Accuse Apple of Plagiarism").

The discussion at "Cult of Mac" is a lively one, with different ideas as to whether the similarities between the Postal Service "Such Great Heights" promo and the Apple TV commercial might be nothing more than "cross promo" for both the band and the computer company:

Rip-off, homage -- who cares?
It's an ad and a music video (an ad for music), not "art."
And it's got us all talking about BOTH of them, which really, is part of the goal, innit?

Another poster holds a somewhat different view on what Postal Service's Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamberello maintain is an un-authorized "commercialization . . . executed without our consultation or consent":

As someone who works in the advertising industry, this would be an embarassment to the creative and account management teams as well as the client.

Side-by-side comparisons of stills from both videos are available at Elite Productions, as are links to view both the music video and the Apple ad.

Matthew Solarski and Zach Vowell of Pitchfork refer to the previous cross-promo gig between Postal Service--as in the band Postal Service--and the United States Postal Service. This cross-promotional agreement came after a spate of wrangling back and forth between the two entities, including a "cease and desist" order from the USPS to the band ("Postal Service Accuse Apple of Plagiarism"; "The Postal Service Gives Up!: Electro-Pop Duo's Feud With the United States Postal Service Ends in Bizarre Cross-Promotion").

So is this case of Apple going postal an instance of plagiarism or just another cross-promo stunt? Definitely a remake, as another "Cult of Mac" poster observes:

. . . it's the visuals that are similar, if not identical. Plus it's the whole idea: the concept, the setting, the narrative. Compare the corridor tracking shots, the movements of the wafer-making machines, the interaction between the male and female workers. The Apple ad is not just "influenced" by the Postal Service video, it's a remake.

Gibbard and Tamberello indicated they have no intentions to take legal action against Apple Computer, Inc. And this in-action is most telling.

If it's really plagiarism and/or copyright infringement, why not sue for damages?


References

End Profile ENTM-2006-Apple

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali & Theo van Gogh

Both Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh are/were known for their outspoken criticism of Islam and perceived Quran-legitimized brutality toward women

Shortly after Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh's film "Submission" was broadcast on Dutch television in 2004, allegations of plagiarism surfaced against this politician-filmmaker duo.

The film was a volatile mix of criticism aimed at the Quran and the violence often enacted against women under the guise of Islam [i.e. so-called "honor" killings, female genital mutilation, wife-scourging, stoning for adultery and the like]. The title of the film itself is an English translation of the literal meaning of Islam--Submission. The film mockingly portrays a woman's submission to her husband's brutality, and by extension, submission to Allah. Though she can't stand the smell of her husband (even after a bath) following an arranged marriage, she submits to him. But she questions this submission aloud in the film, right on her prayer carpet in the middle of a stream-of-consciousness type conversation with Allah . . . "Oh, Allah . . . after a series of threats and warnings, he starts to beat me"

Interspersed with these prayer scenes are flashed images of Quranic verses inscribed on a woman's body (verses from the Quran which allow the "scourging" / "beating" / "hitting" of unsubmissive wives--see various translations of Qur'an, Surah 4:34), juxtaposed with other quickly flashed images of the bruised and beaten body of a woman--a bruised face and a black eye, scourge marks on the woman's back, black and blue legs. The message is unmistakable--the woman is cringing as if being scourged by the Quran itself.

Even after being raped by a male member of the extended family, the woman still submits, keeping her protests to herself so as not to damage the reputation of her husband.

Coming from an ex-Muslim and an "infidel", this stinging criticism of Islam and the Quran was particularly potent. Both Hirsi Ali and van Gogh meant to criticize perceived injustices toward women in the Islamic world, injustices which might seem to be legitimized by the Quran. Typical of an "infidel", Theo van Gogh even joked that he wanted to provide Al-Jazeera with a copy of his new film ("Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh deny Muslim film is plagiarism"). He would later beg futilely for his life on the streets of Amsterdam, at the mercy of an Islamist assassin.

Before van Gogh's death, Francisco van Jole accused Theo and Ayaan of plagiarizing the idea for their film from Iranian-American artist Shirin Neshat. Expatica News reported Van Jole's allegation that "Submission" derived substantial content from Shirin's work: "Anyone who compares the images automatically gets the taste [taste?] of plagiarism in their mouth. The worst thing is that neither Hirsi Ali nor Van Gogh acknowledges the debt" ("Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh deny Muslim film is plagiarism").

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(photos by Shirin Neshat, allegedly the inspiration for "Submission")

However, this does not necessarily seem to be a valid allegation. The Iranian-American artist did feature images of women with text adorning their hands and feet, but this is actually a common practice in the Middle East, women using dye extracted from the henna plant to decorate their bodies, particularly in preparation for a wedding. The use of Quranic inscriptions on a woman's body in criticism of Islam seems to have had its origination with Hirsi Ali and van Gogh.

In any event, this allegation of plagiarism was completely eclipsed by the violent killing of Theo van Gogh in a chilling act of Islamist revenge by a Dutch citizen of Moroccan ancestry, Mohamed Bouyeri. Theo van Gogh is reported to have begged for his life to no avail as an Islamist assassin finished the bloody job. First shooting van Gogh, and then using the same blade with which he had slaughtered the "infidel" in a near-decapitation, Mohamed Bouyeri pinned verses from the Quran to his victim's dead body along with the names of politicians who were next on the Islamist hit-list, not forgetting as as well the pro-forma Islamist message of hatred for Jews, Christians, Europeans, and Americans.

More derivative than the film "Submission" would seem to be the use of assassins, those hashishiyyun who had experienced euphoric visions of the paradisiacal afterlife while high on hash and were fanatically devoted to the religious mission of ancient Islamic sects. Freedom of speech means nothing to these hashishiyyun, ancient or modern.

[Note on terminology: As opposed to the more general descriptor Islamic, the word Islamist is used here in the sense of political, jihadist, radical Islamic belief]

References

End Profile ENTM-2004-AHA/TVG

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Michael Bolton

Orange: High Risk

Soul sound hits and remakes such as "When a Man Loves a Woman", "(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay", "Love is a Wonderful Thing"

When the 9th Circuit Court upheld the original $5.4 million judgement against Michael Bolton for his copyright infringement of the Isley Brothers' "Love is a Wonderful Thing", the 3-0 decision sent a clear message that derivation--even subconscious derivation--can end up costing a musical plagiarist quite a hefty sum of money.

The Columbia Law School's Arthur W. Diamond Law Library Music Plagiarism Project (C. Cronin) has posted a copy of the 9th Circuit Court's decision on Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton (212.F.3d 477--9th Cir. 2000) denying Bolton's request for a new trial, and upholding the original "District Court's jury award against Michael Bolton and Sony." Sound file links at Columbia's "Music Plagiarism Project" contain both versions of "Love is a Wonderful Thing", allowing site visitors to sample for themselves both the "Complaining", and "Defending" works.

In Part II of the 9th Circuit Court decision, the significant points of the case are discussed including the following:

Access--"an opportunity to view or to copy plaintiff's work", evidence of this being offered in the form of circumstantial evidence, citing previous cases of "subconscious copying" [the technical term for this is cryptomnesia], as well as the "the Isley Brothers' song [being] . . . widely disseminated on radio and television stations where Bolton and Goldmark grew up."

Substantial Similarity--"proof of the substantial similarity [being] . . . satisfied by a two-part test of extrinsic similarity and intrinsic similarity"

After Access and Similarity, the legal discussion in the Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton judicial opinion moves on to issues brought up during the trial including "Sufficiency of the Deposit Copy" [with the copyright office--Bolton challenging this copy based on differences between the deposited and recorded versions of the song], following by an analysis of the monetary award factors, "Attribution of Profits" and "Deduction of Tax Liability".

In the words of this decision by the 9th Circuit Court, "the Isley Brothers undoubtedly contributed something original to 'Love is a Wonderful Thing' . . . Having found that the law was properly applied in this case, we leave the district court's decisions and the jury's credibility determinations undisturbed."

References

End Profile ENTM-1991-MB/SONY

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James
Cameron

Directing and co-writing the popular film "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger,a former actor described by some pundits as a "condom stuffed with walnuts"

The Texterminator ? ! ? !

Did James Cameron lift ideas for Terminator 2 from a more obscure film by two Australian screenwriters?

After a successful appeal by an Australian screenwriting duo, Filia and Constantinos Kourtis, The Star Tribune reported the ruling of a federal appeals court which held that the "'Terminator 2' plagiarism lawsuit can proceed".

This is a victory for the Australian couple whose initial lawsuit was dismissed by a district court.

According to the allegations of the Australian screenwriters, a morphing character which they developed for use in their movie "The Minotaur" was ex-appropriated by Cameron for use in the wildly popular "Terminator" series in which terminator-turned-governator Arnold Schwarzenegger played starring roles.

Allegedly, a writer by the name of William Green, who had been hired by the Australians to work on the screenplay of "The Minotaur", shared the script under development with James Cameron, director and co-writer of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day".

According to City News Service, "While Constantinos Kourtis was attending an Australian Film Commission event in Hollywood in 1989, Cameron allegedly called him and told him he 'loved the project' and that his agent would be calling him 'soon'"("Director James Cameron sued for plagiarism"). After the release of "Terminator 2" in 1991, the Australian screenwriters maintain, they realized their work had been stolen by Cameron.


If James Cameron did rip off this idea from the Australian screenwriting duo, he's very bad. B--b-b-b-b-b-baaaaaaad. Bad to the bone. Plagiarists are B-b-b-b-b-b-bad. Baaaaaaaaad to the bone!

References

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Johnny Cash

Blue: Guarded Risk

Nearly a half century of tremendously influential songwriting and performance

"I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" sings Johnny Cash in "Folsom Prison Blues", originally recorded in 1956 by the country music legend. The song would be recorded again in 1968 at "What is aguably the most important event in the history of American country music [which] occurred in just about the most unlikely place imaginable: the stark, heavily guarded Dining Room 2 at Folsom Prison in California" (Yardley, J. "When the Jailhouse Rocked").

Cultivating his outlaw image, Cash identified at Folsom Prison "with a huge audience of hardened criminals in a way that implied he was on their side--not that of the law" as he sang to a quite literally captive--and very appreciative--audience: "I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down" a line which, as Cash's biographer Steve Turner reports, caused "a wave of applause [among the Folsom inmates], presumably coming from men who'd either done the same or wished they could. Cash did nothing to quell their enthusiasm" (The Man Called Cash).

Perhaps such lines about shooting a man just to watch him die (Cash has been called the "Godfather of Gangsta Rap") made Gordon Jenkins hesitate before suing. When he did sue, it wasn't until after the 1968 release of the Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison album, thirteen years after Cash's first release of the single "Folsom Prison Blues" in which he used those lines from Jenkins' 1953 album Seven Dreams.

But then again, as Steve Turner speculates, perhaps Jenkins never heard the first release of "Folsom Prison Blues". Cash's "authorized" biographer gives only several pages to this instance of copyright infringement which seems to have been settled with a cash payment [undisclosed?] to Jenkins.

On his Seven Dreams album, Jenkins' wife had sung about leaving Crescent City:

If I owned that lonesome whistle

If that railroad train was mine

I'll bet I'd find a man a little farther down the line

Far from Crescent City is where I'd like to stay

And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.

Cash sang the following in "Folsom Prison Blues':

Well, if they freed me from this prison

If that railroad train was mine

I'd bet I'd move on over a little farther down the line

Far from Folsom Prison that's where I want to stay

And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.

(Turner, S. The Man Called Cash, pp. 60-61).

Turner suggests that Cash first heard Jenkins' Seven Dreams while serving in the US Air Force in Germany, "perhaps played by one of his more sophisticated urban friends." Given Cash's unique talent for composing and songwriting, talents which were evident from his school days, he certainly had no need to crib lines from another composer. A case of cryptomnesia perhaps? A case of thinking he had modified the tune enough to make it his own with reference to Folsom Prison instead of Crescent City?

As Cash's popularity and influence grew, he found himself pestered by many a songwriter wanting him to perform the "next big hit". When he did perform songs previously written/performed by others, his voice and stage presence were such that the songs became his songs--regardless of whether he had composed them or not. "That's his song now!" was the response when the man came around, ownership ceded to the icon, the legendary "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash".

He freely gave of his inspiration from his own storehouse of ideas as well, as in the idea for the "National Anthem of Rock-n-Roll", "Don't step on my blue suede shoes", a phrase which Cash suggested as a potential song to Carl Perkins (another idea which seems to go back to Cash's experience in the USAF).

If he crossed the line at all in other instances of borrowing from other songwriters and performers, these have not come to light. Apart from this relatively minor instance of infringing on the work of Gordon Jenkins, for which he eventually paid his dues and did his time, Cash walked the line away from plagiary's ring of fire.

References

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Coldplay

Top rock songs in Great Britain; "England's favorite rock & roll sons" (MTV)

The British band Coldplay whose songs topped the UK charts in 2000 has admitted to charges of plagiarism in their "X & Y" album.

It seems that there have been no repercussions other than the band acknowledging that they probably should have referenced their sources of inspiration in the form of a discography.

The Yahoo UK News reported comments by vocalist Chris Martin in an interview with Xfm: "As people listen to the album more and more it'll become apparent just how much we've plagiarised . . . To me, at the end of our album we should have had a bibliography, or a discography, or references."

Sometimes it seems that such derivation is almost intentional, a purposeful aligning of one's self with famous names in the past so as to evoke a similar response in the popular mind. For example, ripping off the last part of Coldplay's "What If" from the Beatles might be seen as an attempt by the group to associate themselves with the likes of their British rock-n-roll predecessors.

References

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Walt Disney and Pixar Animation

Yellow: Elevated Risk

Animated films for children

After the release of the Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation film Finding Nemo, a French author sued for damages claiming copyright and trademark infringement.

Franck Le Calvez, a French children's author, had created a fish character he called "Pierrot Le Poisson [fish] Clown" in 1995 and had registered his trademark creation.

Finding difficulty in interesting French film producers, he published a book with Pierrot as the hero.

Although there is a resemblance between Pierrot and Nemo, Disney/Pixar claimed that their creation was an "independent development" and that it did not infringe on anyone's copyrights or trademarks.

This did not ease the misfortunes of Calvez, whose books are being pulled from the shelves of French booksellers who think Calvez has plagiarized Disney's Nemo!

Le Calvez expressed disappointment at seeing his own fishy creation "swallowed up" by the larger fish released by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar animation.

Is it possible that Calvez animated-fish-idea was passed along by French animation studios to the US? Perhaps. Such little guy vs. big guy cases--or rather, would that be little fry vs. big guy?--are difficult to substantiate, and Calvez may have trouble in netting any profits from his creative fishpiration.

Latest update: According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Disney/Pixar [is] off hook in 'Nemo' suit." A court ruling cleared Disney and Pixar of plagiarizing Pierrot Le Poisson [fish] Clown from Calvez and ordered damages paid to both Disney and Pixar by Flaven Scene, publisher of the French fish story by French children's author Franck Le Calvez.

References

End Profile ENTM-2003-WD/PIX

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Ray Hultman

Serving on the jury which acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges relating to sexual molestation and child abuse

Monstersandcritics.com reports that the early release of an extract from a book by Ray Hultman, a Michael Jackson juror-turned-book-author, has resulted in allegations of plagiarism by Maureen Orth. She alleges that Hultman lifted lines from an article she wrote for Vanity Fair magazine in which she descr