Filed To Story: My Accidental Bride Is a Fashion Circle Queen Novel
With the growing public awareness of copyright, most people now had a zero-tolerance attitude towards plagiarism. In the post, there was clear evidence that the ‘The Lost Relative’ copied a novel called ‘The Tracker’. From the main storyline to the general structure of the story to the plot setting, everything was frighteningly similar. So, as soon as this post was written, it attracted quite an uproar.
“I can’t believe it was plagiarized! How hateful! I originally wanted to watch it because of Emma’s acting, but the anticipation was all in vain.”
“Plagiarism is a shameful act. Get rid of this film right away and don’t embarrass yourselves!”
“Sorry, we have zero-tolerance towards plagiarism.”
“Was Emma aware of the plagiarism or not?”
“But…why have I never heard of ‘The Tracker’ before?”
According to online data, ‘The Tracker’ was a web novel that was last updated 3 years ago, with a total of 540,000 characters. Perhaps due to its performance, the author only wrote this one novel and never appeared again.
But, the oddest thing about the novel was, why did no one take notice of such a great story? And why was there so little information about it online?
Either way, the novel was indeed released earlier than ‘The Lost Relative’, so it was more convincing.
“Did they plagiarize it because it wasn’t famous?”
“What a shameful plagiarist!”
Regarding this, Kaleidoscope immediately provided a response and declared that they would begin an investigation and disclose the facts.
Afterwards, Kaleidoscope contacted the screenwriter. The screenwriter was angry and felt wronged, “This is a complete insult to my character. I’ve already written many scripts in the past and have won multiple awards. Why would I plagiarize someone’s work and ruin my reputation?”
In the end, fearing that Eric did not believe him, the screenwriter produced all his creative material as proof.
“Mr. Roborts, although I don’t know what this is all about, I can guarantee that I did not plagiarize. Please investigate this matter in detail and help me get justice. I have no idea where ‘The Tracker’ came from.”
The claim indeed had its flaws.
But, the public did not care to look for the truth. All they knew was, if someone plagiarized, then they would boycott it – it was that simple.
The consequences of plagiarism were severe. Emma had experienced it in the past when the script of ‘Stupid’ was leaked and Eric released a book to secure the copyright. But, the current film was one step from release, yet something like this happened. So, were they still to release it or not?
Logically speaking, the average person would go ahead with the release schedule and start screening the film as normal while telling the public that they’d investigate the matter. But, in reality, they would take advantage of the publicity created by the scandal to sell out at the box office.
However, this matter involved Kaleidoscope and it was the first time they dealt with a matter like this, so the higher-ups attached great importance to it. Hence, Eric personally declared, “Until the truth is revealed, the film release will be postponed indefinitely. Kaleidoscope will never pollute the eyes of the public with plagiarized material and Emma will never use it to prove her strength.”
“Please wait for us to unravel the truth.”
The majority of people agreed with Kaleidoscope’s reaction. After all, Kaleidoscope was the leader in the entertainment industry and its status was as powerful as ever; postponing a film was no big issue to them, nor did they need to worry about losses.
However, there were some people that believed that Kaleidoscope were avoiding responsibility. By doing what they did, they could still maintain their dignity.
To take the investigation a step further, Eric directly invited the screenwriter to his office. For the sake of his own reputation, the 50-something-year-old middle-aged man brought all his manuscripts with him to Kaleidoscope, “I’m not sure why it is so similar. ‘The Lost Relative’ was indeed written in the last two years, but I never plagiarized anyone.”
Eric did not say a word as he exchanged glances with Emma.
In the end, Emma gave the man a definitive response, “We trust you.”
“I actually think that this ‘Tracker’ person copied the framework of my script. After all, the test screening has been done and the storyline is no secret,” the screenwriter explained.
“In that case, are you familiar with the platforms used for web novels and how they work?” Emma asked.
“I have friends in that field. I’ve heard that they update daily according to a fixed number of characters, and then they earn money according to the number of views,” the middle-aged man replied.
Emma fell into deep thought as Eric explained, “We need to look into ‘The Tracker’ to find answers.”
“But, it was indeed written before my script.”
This was the crux of the problem!
If they could prove who came first, the roles could well be reversed.
…
The film had been postponed and the public were in an uproar; this was exactly the result that Song Xin wanted to see.
How did she manage to arrange something like this? It was probably because she was also a part of the writing industry. Generally speaking, authors weren’t as ambitious as screenwriters, so they were happy to accept new and interesting things within the industry. As a result, she was familiar with web novels and understood how they worked.
Since Emma wasn’t going to make things easy for her, she could also make it so Emma’s film remained locked away and never released.
She wanted to see how Emma was to ever win the Sky Honor Award for Best Actress if she had a history of appearing in a plagiarized work.
She wouldn’t be able to even think about it!
They were talking about plagiarism! Everyone hated plagiarism!
However, Emma did not suffer a blow as Song Xin assumed. After all, she was already accustomed to multiple twists and turns. Plus, she had faith that the screenwriter did not plagiarize and there were other reasons behind the scandal.
She simply needed a bit of time to get her head around an unfamiliar industry and to seriously find answers. She too wanted to know the truth and to solve the mystery behind the timing.
Who exactly plagiarized who?
How was she to prove that Elder Wu did not plagiarize anyone?
“That’s enough. You’re about to give birth. Can’t you rest for a couple of days and leave the investigation for Fletcher to handle?” Lisa couldn’t stand watching Emma handle the matter personally.
“I can rest for a couple of days, but the person that is attacking me from the shadows won’t be resting,” Emma replied as she looked at ‘The Tracker’.
“But, it’s obviously plagiarized. The novel was released a few years before the script.”
“There’s definitely a problem. I will definitely find it,” Emma said as she fl*pped through the information in her hands. “Lisa, tell me, do you think it’s possible to alter the release date of a web novel?”
Lisa shrugged her shoulders; she too did not understand the rules of this new industry.
To speed up the process of finding the truth, Eric instructed Luke to contact the owner of the web novel site and asked them to provide them with proof. Although the other party wasn’t a big empire like Kaleidoscope, they still had their legal documents in order and quickly pulled out their files from 3 years ago. The officially stamped contract for ‘The Tracker’ proved that the novel did exist 3 years ago. This was solid evidence.
“President, all signs point to obvious plagiarism and the other party have already provided us with proof. Elder Wu’s script is undoubtedly plagiarized.”
Eric looked at the slightly yellowed contract and read through the contents in detail before he threw it aside.
“Keep investigating.”
“You still want to investigate?” Luke asked. As Eric lifted his head, Luke touched his head nervously, “What I mean is, shouldn’t we think of a way to remedy the situation instead?”
“If I try to remedy the situation before I’ve determined the truth, I may attract other problems. Kaleidoscope will only end up slapping themselves in the face.”
Eric lead Kaleidoscope, but he never allowed anyone to use cheap tricks just to achieve certain motives even though good and bad often crossed paths in the entertainment industry.
“What if the result of our investigation is still the same?”
“There’s bound to be a flaw.”
Why was he so confident? Because he personally picked this script from a pile of other scripts. When he took the script to Emma, he had already done his research; Kaleidoscope never allowed plagiarism. So, where did ‘The Tracker’ come from? And how did it actually have a contract as proof. Eric found it extremely odd.
What an interesting situation.
However, time didn’t seem to allow for slow progression. After the plagiarism scandal escalated, the author of the web novel finally stepped out to speak. He had hired a lawyer and was ready to put through a copyright claim.
He even described Kaleidoscope as a big shark that could swallow a small fish like him alive. So, he had to quickly clarify the situation to avoid future troubles. This was the only way he could recruit the masses to monitor Kaleidoscope and keep them under check.
He actually called Kaleidoscope a big shark!
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