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Scott McInnis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, has reached a settlement to repay the Hasan Family Foundation over accusations that he gave the group a plagiarized report on water rights as part of a $300,000 fellowship. Mr. McInnis offered to repay the foundation after it said it wanted its money back, noting that he had admitted some of the work was not his own. Mr. McInnis said a longtime friend and water expert, Rolly Fischer, had given him essays written by a Colorado Supreme Court justice without providing attribution. Mr. Fischer has said Mr. McInnis is lying, and he refused to sign a letter accepting responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A friend who teaches at a well-known eastern university told me recently that plagiarism was turning him into a cop. He begins the semester collecting evidence, in the form of an in-class essay that gives him a sense of how well students think and write. He looks back at the samples later when students turn in papers that feature their own, less-than-perfect prose alongside expertly written passages lifted verbatim from the Web. ''I have to assume that in every class, someone will do it,'' he said. ''It doesn't stop them if you say, 'This is plagiarism. I won't accept it.' I have to tell them that it is a failing offense and could lead me to file a complaint with the university, which could lead to them being put on probation or being asked to leave.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

''Tech Transfer'' is the deceptively mild title of a mordant satire about scientists and universities and how they do business. The best scene in this hilarious first novel is a meeting of the trustees of Kershaw University, an elite research university only 200 years younger than Harvard. The trustees have to select a new president. They listen with mounting dismay as the professional headhunter in charge of the search reads out the polished resumes of each candidate, but notes in each case the fatal flaws revealed by background checks, ranging from spousal abuse to bestiality and, even more fatal, plagiarism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If there's a magic spell that can keep J. K. Rowling's name out of lawsuits -- Litigio Impedimenta, maybe? -- the ''Harry Potter'' author hasn't mastered it yet. On Thursday Ms. Rowling, right, said a plagiarism lawsuit filed against her by the estate of another author was ''unfounded'' and ''absurd'' after Ms. Rowling's name was added to the case as a defendant, Reuters reported. The estate of Adrian Jacobs, an author who died in 1997, began proceedings against Ms. Rowling and the publisher Bloomsbury, which releases the ''Harry Potter'' novels in Britain, saying that ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' the fourth novel in Ms. Rowling's series, was plagiarized from Jacobs's 1987 book, ''The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land.'' In a statement Ms. Rowling said she was ''saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write 'Harry.' '' She said she had not heard of the Jacobs book before the accusations were made by the estate, and never read it, adding, ''We will be applying to the court immediately for a ruling that the claim is without merit and should therefore be dismissed without delay.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For those of you keeping score at home, the list of people, groups and nations that do not like ''Avatar'' include social and political conservatives, anticolonialists, antismoking advocates, the Vatican and China. To that list you can now add Russian filmgoers, who say the James Cameron movie too closely resembles a literary science-fiction series by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The Guardian reported that the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda ran an article on Monday comparing ''Avatar'' to the Strugatskys' ''Noon Universe'' books: both take place in the 22nd century on Pandora, and the alien species in ''Avatar'' is called the Na'vi, while ''Noon Universe'' chronicles a race called the Nave. In the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Bykov wrote that some elements of ''Avatar'' were ''unequivocally reminiscent'' of the ''Noon Universe'' novels, and told The Guardian that ''the film is harmful for western civilization.'' But The Guardian reported that the surviving Strugatsky brother, Boris, had not yet seen ''Avatar,'' and that he played down any reports that he was accusing Mr. Cameron of plagiarism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The British publisher Bloomsbury denied on Monday that J. K. Rowling copied substantial parts of another children's book to write ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' Reuters reported. The estate of Adrian Jacobs, an author who died in 1997, has said it seeks a trial in the London High Court against Bloomsbury for copyright infringement. The estate said that Ms. Rowling's 2000 novel, the fourth entry in her wildly popular Harry Potter series, was plagiarized from Jacobs's 1987 book, ''The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land.'' In a statement, the estate cited plot similarities between the books and said that Jacobs had sought the services of Christopher Little, who became Ms. Rowling's literary agent. In a statement, Bloomsbury said that Ms. Rowling had not heard of the other book until 2004, when Jacobs's son made a similar claim. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article informs that the chilean magazine "Cosas" has been accused of plagiarizing the article "Toxic Bachelors" from the pop culture magazine "Radar." Now Radar seeks compensation from Cosas. Scott P. McBride, a lawyer with McAndrews Held & Malloy, wrote in a letter to Casas that the article "Solteros Tóxicos" imitates the article "Toxic Bachelors" in the tone, character, feel, concept, format and storyline.

Focuses on the controversy over Canadian author Yann Martel's novel 'Life of Pi,' which won Britain's Man Booker Prize. The book's plot similarities to 'Max and the Cats,' a novel by Brazilian writer Moacyr Scliar; Martel's admission that he was inspired by Scliar's book; Reactions of Scliar; Comments of Martel, who said he read a review of 'Max and the Cats'; Reference to claims by Brazilian critics and writers that Daphne de Maurier's novel 'Rebecca' was plagiarized from a Brazilian book.

Presents a response from an author accused of plagiarism in his book 'The Red Badge of Gatsby.'

Reports on the plagiarizing of the works of Neal Bowers by David Sumner. Article by Bowers `A Loss for Words: Plagiarism and Silence,' published in the American Scholar; Efforts of Bowers and wife Nancy in search for Sumner; Views of lawyer Bruce McKee of Des Moines on copyright infringement; Effect of plagiarism on Bowers.