Friday, January 11, 2008

Publisher Changes Its Mind

When the Cassie Edwards story was first released by the Associated Press on Wednesday (see my post here), Signet--her publisher--told the AP "She has done nothing wrong."

"The copyright fair-use doctrine permits reasonable borrowing and paraphrasing of another author's words, especially for the purpose of creating something new and original," according to a statement issued by Signet, an imprint of Penguin. "Ms. Edwards' researched historical novels are precisely the kinds of original, creative works that this copyright policy promotes."

Writers on the Internet clearly did not agree. There has been a firestorm of comment on blogs, and most has not been favorable toward Ms. Edwards.

A couple of hours ago, Signet released a new statement:

"Our original comments were based on Signet's review of a limited selection of passages.

"We believe the situation deserves further review. Therefore we will be examining all of Ms. Edwards' books that we publish, and based on the outcome of that review we will take action to handle the matter accordingly. We want to make it known that Signet takes any and all allegations of plagiarism very seriously."


As stated above, Signet is an imprint of Penguin. My publisher, NAL, is also an imprint of Penguin. I am delighted to see the new comment.

1 comment:

Colleen said...

Maya: I've been away from blogland for a bit and have just seen your new banner. Love it! Good luck in the voting over at P&E and all the best wishes for a fulfilling, exciting, joyful year!