MANILA, Philippines - Mark Joseph Solis, the University of the Philippines student who admitted to plagiarizing photos to win photo contests issued a letter of apology to Gregory John Smith on Sunday evening, September 22.
Trending: 'Serial plagiarist?' Solis won an international photo contest for the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation, using the same photo owned by Smith. In that contest, however, Solis said the photo was of a boy who helped his father harvest seaweed in the Ramanathapuram district of India. Solis also submitted another photo stolen from Flickr—and even removed a watermark—for theOffice of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process photo contest in 2011.
Click the links below for more details about the first picture submitted by Mark Solis :
The latest plagiarism sent social media abuzz, especially with UP students, alumni and professors discussing it over online forums.Solis is a UP political science graduate and is currently enrolled in the state university’s Masters in Public Administration program.
“Plagiarism is stealing, and that is that,” Chad Osorio commented in one of the posts about the issue on the Facebook group Narinig ko sa UP (Overheard at UP).
“The fact that one steals ideas, abstract concepts, rather than actual objects, does not excuse intellectual property theft,” Osorio said further. John Ultra meanwhile said in the same thread: “He is a bright promising young man. Maybe he thought he could always get away with it. Too clever for his own good.”
“The fact that one steals ideas, abstract concepts, rather than actual objects, does not excuse intellectual property theft,” Osorio said further. John Ultra meanwhile said in the same thread: “He is a bright promising young man. Maybe he thought he could always get away with it. Too clever for his own good.”
