Hayley1 Intellectual Property Matters

Over the years, the importance of recognizing intellectual property has become a very big part of writers creative process. The online dictionary states that intellectual property is a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc. Every genre of writing falls into this concept of intellectual property. Malcom Gladwell explains his biased views on who should be allowed to plagiarize and who should not. However, no matter what the genre or type of work, I believe that intellectual property should always be taken into consideration because all works are a part of someones individual creative thought and should not be plagiarized in any way.

Malcom Gladwell begins by absurdly expressing that he believes teen-lit authors have no right to get upset about other authors plagiarizing their work to create their own version of a teen-literature novel. He goes on to explain that because teen-literature is genre fiction, it is unnecessary for authors to become upset when someone else plagiarizes his work by stating these are novels based on novels based on novels, in which every convention of character and plot has been trotted out a thousand times before. Although teen-literature novels are typically based on the same basic story lines, I do not believe it is acceptable for an author to plagiarize another authors work with similar wording in order to create their own successful novels. Authors should only be allowed to take the same basic outline of how a teen-literature novel is written typically, but then they must be required to create their own twist to make their story line more appealing to the reader and different from other authors story lines. Clearly, Gladwell is biased when he states that teen literature novelists should not be upset if someone else

Hayley2 plagiarizes their work word for word because he believes the genre of teen-literature novels is unimportant and none the less, all of their stories are the same.

Malcom Gladwell continues to express his unfair reasoning when he turns his attention to Doris Kearns Goodwin, who without attribution, borrowed from a history of the Kennedys for her history of the Kennedys. He goes on to say that because shes a scholar, it is unacceptable for her to have borrowed this work, without attribution, and published it as her own. However, it is not fair for Gladwell to simply recognize that it is wrong for Doris Kearns Goodwin to plagiarize because she is a scholar. Instead, we should recognize everyones intellectual property and understand that it is never tolerable for anyone to use someones work and claim it is their own.

Lastly, Gladwell unsuccessfully tries to justify his outlook that if someone plagiarizes your intellectual property you should not become upset, by recalling an incident when he was plagiarized in the past. After thinking about the whole incident, Malcom Gladwell exclaims that he wasnt particularly upset. Instead he justifies his view on the incident by exclaiming that when he worked at a newspaper, [he was] routinely dispatched to match a story from the Times to do a version of someone elses idea. I find this idea of matching an article from the Times very troubling because it concludes that Gladwell accepts the idea of taking someone elses story or intellectual property and turning it into his or her own idea. Instead of taking someone elses intellectual property to match a story, I believe authors should go the extra mile to do their own research for their own creative story and avoid stealing ideas from other authors and calling them their own.

Hayley3 Society and authors need to begin to stress the importance of recognizing other authors intellectual property. Due to intellectual property being an important component in the creative writing process, it is important for everyone to acknowledge the creator of the property and give them credit. After reviewing Malcom Gladwells article, it is apparent that he and I have very different views on intellectual property. Unlike him, I do not believe it is ever justifiable to plagiarize or take someone elses intellectual property and claim it as his or her own.