Kaavya Viswanathan plagiariased from a novel and got caught. She did not apologise or express regrets. She said it was accidental and unintentional. Her book is taken off the shelves in USA and India. But she made headlines for four days on TV and newspapers. At 19 very few achieve that.
Many Indians plagiarise from novels, films and songs. Few get caught. They copy from English to Indian languages. Very few from the West know Indian languages. They do not read books in Indian languages, watch Indian films or listen to Indian songs. Kaavya copied from English to English and got caught. If she had copied from English to Tamil she would have got away.
Most of the Hindi films copy from English films. I give below names of some English films and Hindi films which have copied from them.
1) French Kiss — Pyar tho hona hi thaa
2) Indecent Proposal — Sauda
3) It can happen to you — Bade Dilwala
4) The Wedding Singer — Kahin pyar na ho jaye
5) The silence of the lambs — Sangharsh
6) Unfaithful — Murder
7) Unlawful entry – Fareb
Many in the USA plagiarise. They are caught soon because language is the same.
Many novels in Indian languages that have copied from English novels are brought to the notice of publishers. They do not make headlines for four days.
Plagiarists may think bad publicity is good publicity. They may be happy that they made news. If they are not caught they make money. If they are caught they have publicity. They win both ways.