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Breaking News: Ben Konop Allegedly Plagarizes a Thesis as his Basis for Door Street Village Concept - This was on the other thread about Ben Konop but with over 100 people posting, it was too likely to get buried. JR did an excellent job pointing out that Ben keeps talking about his ideas but now we learn that none of them are originally his ideas. Some were the Blade's, one was Keith Wilkowski's and now this....As a lawyer and professor, he should know better. Wouldn't this be considered plagarism?? And he wanted to make ethics a key component of this campaign. How is this ethical?
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Before we all get too excited about Ben Konop and his ideas, let me add something else to the conversation. Ben Konop Stole My Thesis Work.

As I am sure you are aware, Ben Konop, has recently been touting a "student village" plan along Dorr Street adjacent to the University of Toledo that is so similar to my thesis that it is uncanny. "His" plan for the revitalization of Dorr Street isn't really his.

The first Blade article on the subject original article, “Konop announces "student village" plan published in the Blade in early Feb. alerted me to the situation. Specifically, the following jumped out at me:

'Ben Konop, a Democratic candidate for Lucas County Commissioner, will announce plans today to create a “student village” commercial district next to the University of Toledo.'

My thesis (copyrighted in 2004) is entitled, “Opportunities to Create a University Urban Village: Secor Gardens and the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio”. Kinda sounds familiar, huh?

The subsequent article published on Feb. 24,2006, “Konop suggests ‘student village’ by UT campus”, confirmed my suspicions that he was claiming my work as his own without credit or citation.

Specifically, the following lines from the article sounded very familiar (the bold portions are key similarities, indeed they are nearly ver batim):

Lucas County commissioners and the University of Toledo should team up to create a "student village commercial district" on Dorr Street near the university, Democrat Ben Konop said yesterday.

Mr. Konop, a candidate for commissioner in the May 2 Democratic primary, said packing the street with bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, and other small businesses would help the university attract top students - and the region create next-generation jobs.

Asked if the student village was a project more suited for city officials, Mr. Konop conceded it would require cooperation from city council, commissioners, and university leaders.

These points were key points in my thesis. Below are some additional comments that he published February 23, 2006 in his Blog, where he elaborated on his earlier claims (again, the bold portions are key similarities):

…the establishment of a Student Village commercial district on Dorr Street will be among my top priorities when I am elected Commissioner.

A redeveloped commercial corridor with shops and restaurants will attract students to the University and attract badly needed investment to Toledo's central city.

The combined purchasing power of students and traditional area residents represents an extraordinary opportunity for businesses large and small.

From establishing design standards to providing infrastructure and offering help with project financing, the county can play a major role in helping to transform this long-neglected area into a thriving urban village that will strengthen both the University of Toledo and the neighborhoods that surround it.

From my thesis:

The goal of this project was to develop a plan to provide residents, stakeholders, the University, and local government officials with a working document that may be realistically applied to assist in the revival of the Secor Gardens neighborhood and the Dorr Street Commercial Corridor into a pedestrian-friendly, aesthetically pleasing urban village.

The Dorr Street Corridor and the neighborhood of Secor Gardens should be designated as a CRA, and in the long-term a Special Improvement District, in order to offer investors the types of incentives needed for reinvestment such as tax abatements and the assurances that what taxes are collected will be reinvested in the neighborhood. This process will build strong partnerships and trust among those involved.

Neighborhood retail as described in the aforementioned Community Vision should be developed along Byrne from Inverness Avenue to Dorr Street, along Dorr Street from Byrne Road to Underwood Avenue, from Brookeley Boulevard to Turner Avenue, and from the railroad tracks to Westwood. Some retail is already begining to spark.

Partnerships should be developed between OCDC and U.T. to develop appropriate locations for housing with the aide of a Secor Gardens resident steering committee. Partnerships between the University and private developers should be fostered and include input from residents.

...this rail line should be converted to a recreational trail that would link Secor Gardens to the University and other neighborhoods beyond.

All existing property zoned “CR" should be rezoned to “CS”, Storefront Commercial to encourage the types of land uses that the community demands. The “CS” district specifically is: “...intended to accommodate pedestrian-oriented, neighborhood-serving retail and service uses...,” (Toledo Zoning Code, 1102.0900),

...the Urban Neighborhood Overlay District(UNO) should be applied to this area and include the neighborhoods of Bancroft Hills and Secor Gardens in order to better control land use and design guidelines.

The “PO”, Pedestrian Overlay District should also be added to this Corridor to reestablish walkability in an area lacking appropriate building and parking setbacks for pedestrian-oriented development patterns.

...consensus building and cooperation on many fronts between the City, the University, business owners, and neighborhood residents.

...finding ways to strengthen existing businesses and to draw in new ones though the recommended tax incentives and infrastructure improvements.

He has access to my thesis through the library system, and it also comes up in a library search and internet search under various keywords, like "urban" "Dorr Street" "urban village" "urban beautification" "community revitalization", etc. If he did any research on the general subject, he would have come across it.

More interestingly, Ben Konop's campaign manager is Ben Krompak, whose father is Bob Krompak who is the Director of the Ottawa Community Development Corporation, and I know he is aware of my thesis.

His defense is that he read a handful of obscure articles and came up with the exact same plan: nothing more, nothing less. I reviewed these materials and they do not adequately explain how he came up with this "plan". I think it is flimsy at best, and while it may be remotely plausible, I think given the connection of his campaign manager and the CDC director with knowledge of my thesis, it is at least highly improbable.

He could probably argue that some of the things are general ideas and concepts. Urban villages, pedestrian friendly streets, redevelopment of corridors, private and public partnerships are certainly not my original concepts, but I think the applying the urban village concept to that specific area is original to my thesis, as is recommending a connecting walkway, as well as specifically applying those concepts to the area. This are is not mentioned in the Toledo 20/20 Plan as an Urban Village, nor is it cited as such in any other document published in Toledo, public or private.

I also believe that while those in my profession are familiar with these general concepts, ideas and terms-of-art, most people outside the field are probably not. My understanding is that he's a civil rights attorney with no planning or public administrative experience that would expose him to these types of concepts and/or how to apply them.

As a professional urban planning consultant, I make my living off of this exact type of work. His actions, while not technically illegal because he is not directly receiving any financial gain, are unethical and deceptive to say the least. Additionally, I feel that it is imperative that I receive the proper credit for my plan.
posted by msachs at 06:22 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006 #
posted by moderatedemocrat to politics at 9:06 P.M. EST     (22 Comments)

Comments ...

I think it goes without saying that he's trying to get some things done that need to get done. Obviously, there are some people that only come up with ideas, and cannot act on them.
posted by Spinny at 09:16 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

But what has he ever got done? As JR pointed out on a previous post, all of his ideas are borrowed but he claims them as his own and as important, many are not even in the scope of the job of county commissioner. Some are for city councils (he should have run for city council), some are for the state legislature (he should have run for state rep or state senate). I'd give him credit if any of the ideas were realistic or practical and if he'd give credit where credit is due. He preaches ethics...it would be nice for him to practice what he preaches.
posted by moderatedemocrat at 09:19 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

Saying you invented the concept of a dorr street development project and that ben konop stole it is commensurate with me telling you that pee-wee herman ripped off all of my good knock-knock jokes.

It's not like Reagan came up with the concept of "Star Wars" on his own or Bush invented the idiotic concept of "exporting democracy." The bottom line is that the concept of a student village development on dorr street has been around for years. If it hadn't, there wouldn't even be the scant businesses there that there are now.

Student villages in one form or another have been developed at the periphery of almost every major and minor campus community within and without the country, whether it be privately or publicly-initiated.

Even if Ben Konop used terms that happened to be part of a report you wrote, it's not as if he's publishing an academic paper. There's nothing unethical about it, and if anything, you should be honored that a major candidate for a major public office has read your thesis and incorporated some of your ideas into his own concept.

Somehow I have the feeling that you'd prefer another candidate to use your ideas over Konop, but he's the only candidate who has brought a progressive idea to the forefront of this campaign. Whomever you prefer as a candidate obviously doesn't agree as much with your priorities as Ben Konop does.

Deal with it and vote for him.

nookularoption.com
posted by jeremy_of_the_nookularoption at 10:02 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

Ben has cited Rise of the Creative Class as his inspiration for his cool county initative. If he had, in fact, garnered ideas from said thesis, why would he refrain from citing that? It makes no sense.
posted by heather at 10:29 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

moderatedemocrat, this is quite a stretch. If I'm on the jury, he gets a "not guilty" from me.

Anyone who's been in a real college town knows what Toledo's lacking. That this candidate is suggesting doing something about it (in terms that do not strike me at all as having been swiped from what you've presented here) makes me want to find out more about him. Till now, I'd paid no attention to him. Now I want to learn more about him. He sounds like a guy who's wanting to do what we should have done years ago.
posted by CrankyEastSider at 10:53 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

Just remember that the County can't do infrastructure within the cities...that pesky state law thing that always gets in the way. Hopefully, before everyone gets excited about a county commissioner doing such a project, someone (maybe a lawyer?) will check the law and not make suggestions or promises that can't be kept.

This idea of improving Dorr Street this way may be good (don't know enough about it to make a good judgement)...but unless you're going to get the City of Toledo to adopt it as part of their actions, there is nothing the County can do to implement such a plan, other than the 'bully pulpit' route.

And I'm not being negative - just realistic and pointing out the statutory restrictions. This is one of the reasons why I think we, as citizens, really need to better understand the jobs we're hiring people to fill and more aggressively define the skills we want in those positions...
posted by MaggieThurber at 11:15 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

It is still wrong to plagerize (sp). Some big university is in the news (don't recall which), that claimed about 20 percent of the thesis papers were plagerized, so now they are going to check about 300 of them. Engineering students I believe. It is wrong to steal ideas/writing/art and claim it as your own without giveing credit. Would you say it's ok for your kids to do so?????? He should feel flattered that his thesis ideas were stolen and not given credit? If moderatedemocrat wrote said thesis, it's easy enough for him to prove he wrote it. He didn't need the idea for the thesis to be original, but if he expanded on it, he owns it I'd think. Univerities keep track of thesis papers I think, otherwise, how could that college go back a few years to recheck student's thesis?
posted by starling02 at 11:54 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 13, 2006     #

I don't see any sign of plagiarizing. It's not like this idea that hasn't been around for decades. It's just that now a candidate is talking about it in local terms. I don't see how moderatedemocrat can claim the idea as original to him/her. It just seems so silly to make that claim.

Maggie, I guess I don't understand the role of the commissioner in this regard. I thought commissioners frequently got behind projects that are for the betterment of the county. I don't expect a commissioner to go out and build the village, but isn't there the potential for an economic package to be put together and made reality with the help of commissioners?

I also see a difference between someone sharing a vision of what can or should be done versus someone making promises.
posted by CrankyEastSider at 12:09 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Oops. I went over to the long Konop thread and got caught up on my reading. I see that moderatedemocrat isn't the one who claims his idea was swiped. He's just reposting something msachs posted. I should have directed my comments to the original poster. Sorry, moderatedemocat.
posted by CrankyEastSider at 01:20 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

CES - the County does have ways to be involved in projects within cities - we've got economic development monies that can be loaned, although some of the funds come with restrictions on use (ex. capital purchases versus operational costs).

Usually, when people talk about infrastructure, they're referring to roads, water, and sewer services. We can only do those things in the unincorporated areas of the county. Even with 5/3 Field, the City of Toledo did the infrastructure items (though the County did provide some monies for things on our county-owned property).

I believe that Mr. Konop also mentioned something about design standards for this project...The county has no authority over design standards within other jurisdictions. This is why I've said you can "advocate" for such things, but you can't promise anything other than that because of the statutory limitations of the office.
posted by MaggieThurber at 06:28 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Even with 5/3 Field, the City of Toledo did the infrastructure items (though the County did provide some monies for things on our county-owned property - the same as any other property owner would do.)

Sorry - forgot to add this in the original post...
posted by MaggieThurber at 06:32 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Thanks Maggie. Agree or disagree with you, you are doing a great service by shedding some light onto what a Commissioner can or can't do.

My feeling is propose ideas you can do and if you got them from somewhere, say it. That's ethical and responsible leadership. Ben doesn't get it!
posted by moderatedemocrat at 08:28 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

One person got it right, others didn't. So here we go:

P-L-A-G-I-A-R-I-Z-E

When I accuse someone of something, I run spellcheck first.
posted by mattsussman at 09:26 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Wow! This lie is really getting out of hand.

My name is Ben Krompak. I work for the Konop campaign and I also serve as a Student Representative on the Dorr Street Development Team of the University of Toledo and the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commission.

In two years of working on Dorr Street redevelopment, I've never heard of the man making these allegations and never heard of his thesis, much less read it.

"Student village" districts exist all over the country and redeveloping Dorr Street into that type of commercial district has been discussed at UT for more than twenty years. I'm flabbergasted by this man's behavior. If this is something he cares about, why isn't he circulating his thesis and trying to get involved in a constructive way instead of absurdly and insultingly suggesting that it's "his" idea?

Konop's announcement on Dorr Street was that he would marshal the resources of the County to support the existing project the University is working on, resources like infrastructure improvements, financing through LCIC, funding studies, etc. He never claimed that it was "his idea" to redevelop Dorr Street and anyone who suggests it was theirs - especially in the past few years - is quite possibly out of their mind.

For those of you looking for angles to attack Ben, you're barking up the wrong tree with this one.
posted by BenKrompak at 09:46 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

My handle is Zoltan but my name is Bob Krompak. I am the director of the Ottawa Community Development Corporation, a not for profit housing and economic development organization that opperates in the UT area. It was mentioned in the posting by moderate democrat that he or she had written a thesis on Dorr Street Development and that it was believed that I had a copy of this thesis that was subsequently provided to the Konop campaign.

I donot have a copy of any such document and I have never before heard of this document.

I have been involved with a group including several other CDC's and the University of Toledo that is proposing a plan for the entire Dorr Street Corridor. As part of that proposed plan we have suggested subdividing the 4 mile Dorr Street Corridor into several districts, one of which is a University Student Village similar to those that exist around many universities in the US.

For this person to suggest that they originated the concept demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the common vocabulary utilized by urban planners dealing with town and gown issues all over this country.

It would be akin to stating that since one had included the expression downtown or main street in a paper, that they some how had a patent on usaged of the word/concept.

University Student villages exist everywhere in the world and contain basically the same elements described in Ben Konop's suggested plan for the Dorr Street corridor as well as this person's paper.

Obisously this person found refrences to these concepts and elements while researching their paper. The last time I witnessed such incredible hubris (or utter stupidity) was in the comededy Romey and Michelle's High School Reunion when a character claimed to have invented the post-it note. Hopefully readers of this thread will find this equally amusing.

I, by the way would like to hear from this person, in person, so that I can educate them about what has been going on regarding planning for Dorr by the "real" people!
posted by Zoltan at 10:37 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

How is it that an idea can be developed (I read msachs post) while the proposal it describes is in place at several locations - be stolen?

I'm just confused. I read it - it's a great paper. It's already being done, predating that paper. So how could Mr. Konop have stolen it?

This is truly confusing....

I have a thought though - maybe Mr. Konop could READ that paper and publicly comment on it - it seems to be parallel reasoning.
posted by katie82640 at 10:39 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Zoltan,

[begin off-topic]

Are you familiar with the proposed Toledo Grows project on the old Doeller-Jarvis site? I caught the presentation at last November's New Urbanism meeting at the Downtown Latte. From my notes about the meeting:

"The TCDC-OCDC team will know about the $2.9 million grant status on Dec 15. Team will travel to Columbus to make pitch."

I never heard anymore about this. Did you get the grant?

[end off-topic]
posted by jr at 11:40 A.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

I just removed from the front page another topic that seems to me to be similar to this topic. Anyway, the newer one by buttonpusher is located here. What was the point of starting a new topic? Commenting has been turned off on that other one.

Am I missing something? Why couldn't the new topic been a comment here? What's different about the two?

Since my last login to this site, which was Thursday morning, over a dozen new topics and nearly 200 comments have been posted. I haven't read every single word posted, so maybe I missed why a new topic should have been started.

Family is coming in today. The weather is nice. There's birdwatching and yardwork to do. So I won't have much of a chane to monitor this site much over the next few days. Try to maintain some kind of order. Keep similiar conversations in the already existing threads.
posted by jr at 12:05 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

I guess I have a general problem with Ben Konop (whether he stole the idea or not).

After pissing off a large voting block in the debate, "his ideas" are being shown for what they are.

It just seems like he reads the Blade on Monday then on Tuesday it's his idea and he hasn't given thought to the effect "his ideas" will have on people.

It just speaks to an incredible need for him to be elected, somewhere, anywhere (I was there last election when he was campaigning with John Kerry in BG).

I appreciate the desire to serve the public, but posts from Maggie Thurber and others pointing out the distinction to Ben about the differences between City and County government (and, on top of that, him debating national party politics in a local county debate) just speaks to his inability to grasp the big picture scheme of what the job he's trying to get entails.
posted by UTStudent at 12:38 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Mr. Konop:

As a professor and lawyer I would hope that you would take talk of plagiarism and copyright violations more seriously. I would hope that you would have done the right thing and cited my work in the first place. I don’t feel at all that I’ve discussed any of this lightly. I think it is a serious matter and that is why I had attourneys contact you originally, but it wasn’t to threaten a lawsuit, it was to give you an opportunity to respond as to how you came up with the ideas.

Actually, a few lawyers would have taken the case, but the fact is, defining what my damages are become the problem. Because Mr. Konop does not stand to directly gain financially, I cannot define what damages to sue for. It's a technical loophole. However, my attorneys did say that there was a case here because he published the ideas in his Blog. While one cannot copyright ideas, the expression of those ideas (i.e. writing them down) is copyrighted. There is actually a strong case for copyright infringement. Case law that states:

"...when the similarities concern details of such an arbitrary character that the probability that the infringer had duplicated them independently is remote, an inference of copying may be drawn without any additional evidence." (see Bucklew vs. Hawkins, Ash et. al.)

His materials are similar enough to mine that it can be inferred that he copied mine. Further, the Court in this case cited an "Ets-Hokin" case that states:

"...it is the combination of elements, or particular novel twists give to them, that supply the minimal originality required for copyright protection."

So, even if he claims that he came up with the idea on his own, he had access, copying can be inferred due to the similarities, and even though some of the concepts may be general, it is the application of those concepts in this specific manner that afford me copyright protection. The matter is hardly frivolous, nor does it lack legal credibility.

Mr. Konop, my intention has never been to harass you. I brought this story to members of the news media in hopes that I might somehow receive credit for my work. I only went to the media after having attempted to contact Mr. Konop initially, I did actually return one of the two phone call that I received from Mr. Konop. Right after he initially returned my call about a month ago. I then sent an email (3/27/06) in a last effort to meet with him and discuss the matter, wherein I apologized for playing phone tag. After no response, last week I did what I felt to be right in contacting the media.

Mr. Konop is right, we’ve never met. I don’t know if he read my thesis or not. It’s really irrelevant. His intentions are none of my concern. I have always simply wanted credit where credit is due.

I don’t dispute that the idea for redeveloping Dorr Street has been discussed for a long time. I never said I was the first to study Dorr Street, but there were no other plans out there (in 2004 at the time of my thesis), and certainly none that demonstrate the same application of ideas. Redeveloping this area as an student-oriented urban village, as well as the recommendation for implementing this concept are original. Even the president of the University Foundation requested a copy of my thesis. I mailed it to her last year. I’m not saying that no one has ever thought of the general concept. I never stated that the vocabulary and general planning concepts were new either. It is the application of these concepts that make the work original.

I'm not claiming to have coined the "urban village" or "pedestrian firendly". However, I am claiming that the application of those ideas in my thesis are original and that those ideas are the ones that Ben Konop is touting. He covers every one of my recommendations from my thesis. No more, no less. If he had independently come up with these ideas, then it stands to reason that there would be either additional material, or less. He hits every point. Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem odd that someone who read a few obscure articles came up with the exact same ideas as someone who spent a year of their life studying an area? (See http://www.plagiarism.org/research_site/e_faqs.html). Maybe Mr. Konop has never claimed that he developed the idea, but he didn’t cite anyone either.

As to how similar my work and Mr. Konop’s are, well that’s really a subjective analysis. I think it is obvious that my complaint is legitimate. I’m sure Mr. Konop thinks he’s right. All of you reading this will draw your own conclusions, which is why I posted my comments anyway. As to what my thesis does to advance university-related retail district planning on a national level, well Ben, you got me there. It probably doesn’t do much “in the way of advancing the discourse on this issue”, but that really goes beyond the scope of the paper.

Actually, the purpose reads:

The goal of this project is to develop a plan to provide residents, stakeholders, the University, and local government officials with a working document that may be realistically applied to assist in the revival of the Secor Gardens neighborhood and the Dorr Street Commercial Corridor.

It has always been my intention that the plan be implemented. However, it has also always been my intention to get credit for my work. Making my complaint public was only to serve this end. I hold no malice towards Mr. Konop.

Mr. Konop, I find it interesting that you very eloquently attacked me personally as “pathetic”, “despicable”, and “amoral” throughout your diatribe. To be pathetic, I would be looking for some sympathy. I’ve not asked for anyone’s pity. In fact, I’ve only asked people to examine the facts (as I see them) and to decide for themselves. To be despicable and amoral I would have had to have done something that was morally wrong and should be despised. I guess this is subjective, but I don’t think anyone should be held in contempt for standing up for what they think is right.

I suppose in the end, people will continue to comment and judge my credibility versus your own. They will continue to Blog and argue, and no consensus will ever be reached. I agree with a couple thing you wrote, first, “I really don’t care if you criticize something I say on its merits.” Secondly, “It is no wonder that most decent people want to have nothing to do with public service. Frankly, I don’t blame them.” I don’t either. This is exactly the type of issue that disenfranchises voters and sours them to the political system.

Finally, in response to your question, I have no trouble looking myself in the mirror as my conscience is crystal clear. I’ve said my piece and I don’t see any point in responding tit for tat to every question and attack that will likely surface. I do not feel vindicated, but at the least the issue is out in the public to be vetted.

I sleep very, very soundly.
posted by msachs at 01:03 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

Well, msachs I'm guessing that you also may have got some of your ideas on this from others. This Dorr St. area was being talked about as far back as 1980.
posted by AmericanPie at 05:32 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

"I don’t know if he read my thesis or not. It’s really irrelevant. His intentions are none of my concern."

Is it irrelevant? Well, let's look at the elements of a prima facie case of copyright infringement, and see what we've got.

For msachs to have a copyright infringement case that will survive summary judgment, he needs to satisfy two elements, substantial similarity, and access.

Really, msachs has blown the substantial similarity element already. Above, he readily concedes that the concepts and vocabulary are not original, and bases his claim on the originality of applying those concepts to this particular city. That's not really a copyrightable idea.

But let's assume, arguendo, that there are substantial similarities between Ben Konop's proposals and msach's thesis paper. Msachs would still have the burden of proof regarding the element of access. Courts require proof of access because copyright is only violated if the prior work has been copied, not simply duplicated. Courts recognize, as I pointed out above, that two people can come up with the same idea at different places and times. Thus, in a copyright suit, a plaintiff must always present sufficient evidence to support a reasonable possibility of access.

Has msachs done this? How widespread was the distribution of msachs paper? How well known was it? How much effort, before this week, did msachs go to promulgate his ideas? I'm not convinced that a single copy on file at Carlson library will be sufficient to show a reasonable possibility of access on Konop's part. Even if msachs gave additional copies to other people, I seriously doubt that would be sufficient distribution to create a reasonable presumption of access. How would Konop have known to go looking for it? As we've already heard, msach's theory that the Krompaks had fed the ideas to Konop is nonsense.

Here's what the court in Selle v. Gibb had to say about access: "Evidence of striking similarity is not sufficiently compelling to make the case when the proof of access must otherwise depend largely upon speculation and conjecture."

Like the plaintiff in Selle v. Gibb, msachs has utterly failed to prove that Konop's ideas were NOT the result of an independent creative process. The burden of proof rests squarely on the shoulders of msachs. No access element, no case, so sorry.
posted by NookularDon at 07:10 P.M. EST on Fri Apr 14, 2006     #

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