SimonYam.com Press Release: July 22, 2003
Paramount Pictures Plagiarized From
Simon Yam.com
Three years ago Hong Kong actor Simon Yam Tat Wah personally authorized the
creation of SimonYam.com, a fan site formed to promote his career. In that time
SimonYam.com has become the foremost form of publicity for Yam worldwide, read
by tens of thousands of visitors each month.
Unfortunately, SimonYam.com (as well as its sister site, Hong Kong Movie World-
simonyam.com/hkmw) has frequently become a victim of its own "success".
It has been widely plagiarized, and the offenders, surprisingly, have included
professional journalists.
This time around, the plagiarism was committed by Paramount Pictures, one of the
oldest and biggest movie studios in Hollywood. Promotion for Paramount's summer
2003 release of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life includes the film's official
website.
This website (www.tombraidermovie.com) has blatantly plagiarized entire portions
of the Simon Yam biography found at simonyam.com/biography.
To see what they stole, enter www.tombraidermovie.com, click on "Cast & Crew"
at the bottom menu, then select "Simon Yam" from the list.
Or if you find it easier, you can just click on these screen captures of the
Tomb
Raider 2 site, which are exact snapshots of the stolen Yam biography.
In addition to use of my work on the web site, my material was
also distributed as part of their press kit given to the media, and
is included on the DVD of the Tomb Raider 2 movie.
The original biography page on SimonYam.com (http://simonyam.com/biography)
clearly states that it is copyrighted material. No credit is given whatsoever on
Paramount's website, meaning that they are taking credit for authorship of the
material, as well as claiming copyright. Aside from 1 word change*, one short line
added on the end of the first paragraph, and the concluding sentence, the text is
verbatim, word for word, exactly the same as the SimonYam.com biography from
simonyam.com/Biography.
*the word "over" is changed to "more" in the first paragraph
A corporate entity as large as Paramount, which is promoting a blockbuster movie
with a reported budget of $90,000,000, should not be plagiarizing from others.
Stealing, and taking credit for what someone else wrote is not only unpaid labor,
but also slanderous. As the author of this biography, I should be credited and paid
for my services,
don't you think?
Arash
7/22/03
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