Cartoon Plagiarism - Opinions?

[Jacqueline Henry <jhenry@GANANDA.ORG>]

Today's version of the cartoon "Shoe" by Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins =
caught my eye (Sunday, July 27).  I am always looking for "real life" =
examples of plagiarism - particularly outside the strictly academic arena. =
 This certainly is an interesting example of possible plagiarism.  The =
cartoon is basically an email joke that I have received both at home and =
at school several times in the past few months.  I am wondering if the =
cartoonists will be called to account for this?  Or is it possible that =
they ARE the originators of the joke?  To see the comic go to http://www.uc=
omics.com/shoe/index.phtml

I am not certain if the cartoon will be available after today.  I will not =
quote the entire text of the comic, but it concerns the arrest of a math =
teacher in an airport because he had a calculator and a protractor.  The =
teacher was being charged with "concealing weapons of math instruction." =
=20

I would be most interested to hear your opinions of this situation.  I =
suspect that technically the cartoon violates copyright law.  In reality, =
it would probably be close to impossible for the original author of the =
joke to claim ownership.  These kinds of jokes fall into the grey areas of =
folklore I suppose.   But certainly, if the cartoonists are not the =
original authors, presenting the joke as their own work with no source/attr=
ibution/disclaimer is plagiarism. =20

It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this.  I am sure that =
thousands of people reading the cartoon will recognize it as an email =
joke.  The need to remain vigilant and read critically becomes more =
important by the second.  Plagiarised information ranges from the =
"sublime?!(Jayson Blair/NY Times) to the "ridiculous" (The Sunday comics)!

Jacquie

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those that wander are lost"
 J.R.R. Tolkien
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jacquie Henry, MLS
Ruben A. Cirillo High School (GHS)
Gananda Central School District
3195 Wiedrick Road
Walworth, NY  14568
jhenry@gananda.org
http://www.gananda.org/library/mshslibrary/indexgcl.htm

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