Quebec Superior Court has given Radio-Canada, LA PRESSE and LE DEVOIR the findings of a study commissioned by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the case of author Claude Robinson against the production company Cinar. The 300-page study concludes that Robinson's work was plagiarized by Cinar. (Via www.Radio-Canada.ca).
The RCMP has had the study since April 2001. At that time, the RCMP conducted a second criminal investigation into allegations of plagiarism by Robinson, who accused Cinar of having violated its copyright by producing the series ROBINSON SUCRO.
The RCMP asked the group Quatu'Art to compare Cinar's series ROBINSON SUCRO and Robinson's Robinson Curiosite character he created in 1982.
The report says that the original idea and synopsis are extremely similar, the main characters are also extremely similar, the sets, props and locations are very similar and finally, the main themes and plots are secondary quite similar.
In a letter sent to the RCMP, one of the authors of the study, Pierre A. Morin, concludes that nearly 70% of the original material created by Robinson is found in ROBINSON SUCRO.
Superior Court Judge Claude Auclair, is now allowing the dissemination of this study because he says that the RCMP has waived its confidentiality. "The media argued that the information was public. The transparency of the judicial process are important ideals," said Barry Landy, counsel for the media.
Auclair had refused to admit the study as evidence in the civil case between Robinson and Cinar. In his decision on October 3, he argued that two experts have already been filed on record and a third would have delayed the progress of the current trial.
Regardless of the expert evidence filed, it is now up to Auclair to decide whether there was plagiarism or not. The pleadings of Robinson and Cinar's lawyers begin March 3.
