Plagiarism during medieval times

The Philippine Supreme Court has cleared their pal fellow judge Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo from plagiarising because, allegedly, he didn’t intend to plagiarise in the first place. Instead, it was Microsoft Word’s fault for not detecting the plagiarised material that he inserted into his document:

The court also said it was not Del Castillo’s or his researcher’s fault that Miscrosoft Word, the program used in writing the decision, cannot detect “copied” research material without the proper attributions.

“Microsoft Word program does not have a function that raises an alarm when original materials are cut up or pruned. The portions that remain simply blend in with the rest of the manuscript, adjusting the footnote number and removing any clue that what should stick together had just been severed,” the Supreme Court said.

The newest member of the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, criticized her colleagues for the ruling, claiming it would set a bad precedent. Just like Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

/via Pinoychan