Kaavya and plagiarism - 2 May 2006 - Khaleej Times

IT IS frustrating to note that a budding teenager Kaavya Viswanathan from the renowned University of Harvard has resorted to the act of plagiarism. More so because, the third generation of Indo-US citizens are making faster strides in the US by virtue of their discipline, decorum and perseverance and had deserved the accolades and respects of their counterparts across the Atlantic.

In respect of any piece of works from arts to architecture, from literature to music, it is natural that artists draw inspiration from previous works of the kind which they admire.

Modern day composers, however, to one step further and straightaway lift the tunes of other composers and rename them as a source of inspiration. Over the time, we had noticed that there’s a thin dividing line between inspiration and plagiarism. If a verisimilitude of the original works is produced, it cannot be considered as inspiration but termed as ‘plagiarism’.


— Yasmin Banu, Abu Dhabi