RE: Plagurism

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

I'm not particularly happy that _this_ exists:

  http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/04/udanoceratops_tschizhovi.php

  Based on my original sketch of a finished skull (leaving off the less 
complete "what's preserved" sketch which was available at the same time from an 
art exhibition website and to which I maintained copyright (an unauthorized 
copy can be found here: 
http://gigadino.pagesperso-orange.fr/images_dossiers/cera12.JPG)

  But it also happens to be the only widely-known illustration of the skull of 
*Udanoceratops tschizhovi*, it's available on the internet, and that seems good 
enough for many people.

  I tend to allow free use (without modification, with attribution) of all my 
skeletal diagrams, provided they are "for a scientific purpose," a broad 
category that can be construed for a variety of things. But for my diagrams and 
illustrations beyond that, I am more picky, and here is where I fail to receive 
attribution. Naish (above, first link) correctly notes that the illustration is 
based on something I did, something which Naish and I had discussed years 
before (I think I showed the original to him at SVP, although I may be 
confusing that with someone else), and so some familiarity allows a person to 
note when I'm being plagiarized. It's not the only time I've been plagiarized, 
I doubt it will be the last, but it's the most significant.

  I lack the means to track down and even attempt to sue the original 
modifier/poster (whom I suspect may be Russian -- for the original appearance 
of this was on a Russian website, that I know of), and thus my legal options 
are limited. But despite that, the illustration has been used to _promote_ 
scientific interest, and it _is_ the only skull of the Nutcracker that I know 
of, and so Science is forwarded by this act. How paradoxical.

Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden
The Bite Stuff (site v2)
http://qilong.wordpress.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
Backs)





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> Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:08:34 +0000
> From: john.bass@ntlworld.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Plagurism
>
> I have not read all of the long and sometimes unpleasant posts on the art
> debate, but one thought has occurred to me.
>
> How would those who have been giving Greg so much abuse like it if somebody
> copied their work, particularly if they got it published in a more
> prestigious journal than they did?
>