PLO Lumumba’s plagiarism case to be settled out of court
Former director of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Prof Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, who is facing allegations of plagiarism, will now have the matter settled out of court.
This is after a constitutional human rights lawyer who took Prof Lumumba to court said they are both considering to hold negotiations with a view of reaching a settlement regarding the dispute.
“Let the matter be mentioned on December 13 with a view of recording a settlement,” High Court judge Joseph Onguto said.
STEALING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Mr Wachira Maina, who had sued PLO for allegedly stealing his intellectual property and presenting it as his own work in the Law Society of Kenya Journal, requested the court for 60 days in which the matter could be settled.
The article with the alleged plagiarism is titled From Jurisprudence to Poliprudence: The Kenyan Presidential Election Petition 2013.
The lawyer accuses PLO of lifting nearly 5,000 words verbatim from his 10, 000-word article which was published by the East African newspaper on April 20, 2013.
He claimed that PLO had violated his intellectual right since he undertook extensive research into electoral law so as to criticize the verdict of the 2013 Presidential election results petition that was determined by the Supreme Court.
PLAGIARIZED
Mr Maina also claimed that he thereafter wrote a detailed essay to The East African but in November 2015, when he obtained a copy of the said journal, he realized that between pages 1 and 26 was the plagiarized work.
He accused the Kenya School of Law director of dishonouring his office and therefore wanted the court to suspend him from being the institution’s boss pending the hearing and determination of the case.
The lawyer also wanted the matter, certified urgent, heard on a priority basis and that PLO, KSL and LSK as well as the Law Africa Publishing company be barred from disseminating contents of the said journal.
