An author once sued claiming she'd been plagiarized. The twist? The other author was a computer!
In 1993, Scott French, was given $40,000 and spent 8 years programming a computer that was able to analyze Jacqueline Susann's writing style, and then attempt to write a novel in her style.
The name of the book is 'Just This Once', a romance novel, credited to a Macintosh IIcx computer named 'Hal'. The novel received mix reviews, which is a positive result considering that the book was written by an inanimate object.
The book sold 35,000 copies, and Jacqueline Susann later sued Scott
French for the profits made off the book. The case was extremely
controversial, considering the fact that the book wasn't plagiarized.
The only thing Scott French had done 'wrong' was directly say that he
had 'Hal' mimic Susann's writing style.
(Source)
In 1993, Scott French, was given $40,000 and spent 8 years programming a computer that was able to analyze Jacqueline Susann's writing style, and then attempt to write a novel in her style.
The name of the book is 'Just This Once', a romance novel, credited to a Macintosh IIcx computer named 'Hal'. The novel received mix reviews, which is a positive result considering that the book was written by an inanimate object.
The book sold 35,000 copies, and Jacqueline Susann later sued Scott
French for the profits made off the book. The case was extremely
controversial, considering the fact that the book wasn't plagiarized.
The only thing Scott French had done 'wrong' was directly say that he
had 'Hal' mimic Susann's writing style.
They decided to settle the case out of court, because 'the copyright
laws of the time were ill-equipped to deal with computer-generated
creative works.'
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