Well-known mathematics author alleges plagiarism by competitors

 

David Barton is a well-known and long-standing author of mathematics textbooks and workbooks that are in use in many New Zealand high schools.  A large number of secondary students and educators  are familiar with Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta, Sigma and Delta Mathematics.  He has also written mathematics and statistics for Australia, Fiji, Abu Dhabi, Kiribati and South Africa.

In 2023 David Barton became aware of questions that he had written appearing in a competitor's workbook.  Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker had provided questions written by David Barton to their publisher, Cengage, an Australian-based company that sells mathematics workbooks, branded as walkermaths, in the New Zealand educational market.  This infringing material has been published by Cengage and has been sold to New Zealand secondary schools.

This material was appropriated by Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker without permission, without attribution and without payment.

Example of the plagiarism:

From the Gamma Fundamentals Workbook, ISBN 9781442540811, by David Barton, published by Pearson New Zealand in 2011, and the rights subsequently assigned to a New Zealand-owned and operated educational publisher:  

Pages 46 and 47:  (Question 2) A 4 m length of dental floss is cut into lengths of exactly 45 cm.  What is the length of the remaining piece? (written by David Barton)

From walkermaths 1.5 Measurement, ISBN 9780170371612, written by Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker, and published in 2015 by Cengage:

Page 19:  (Question 4) A 4 m length of dental floss is cut into 45 cm lengths.  How long is the remaining piece of floss?  (a plagiarised question supplied to Cengage by Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker)

For further examples of the plagiarism by Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker see here.  Judge for yourselves whether it is possible that Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker created this material themselves.  David Barton's original material is here.

In every publishing agreement that David Barton has ever signed there is a standard clause where 'The Author warrants to the Publishers ... that the Work is the Author's own original work ...  The Author will indemnify the Publishers against any loss, injury or expense arising out of any breach ... of these warranties'.  If there is a similar warranty between Cengage, and Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker, it is clearly inaccurate.

There is an obvious and present risk to David Barton's integrity and professional reputation because his new title, Year 11 Measurement (Mathematics Workbook Series), to be published this year (2024), contains the material in question.  There is a likelihood that educators will already be familiar with the material in the Walkermaths Workbook, and conclude, wrongly, that David Barton is a plagiarist, when the opposite is true.

The plagiarism by Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker was first reported to Cengage in 2023. 

There has been no admission or acknowledgement of the plagiarism.

There has been no apology.

Cengage, and Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker, have failed to provide an assurance that there are no other instances of plagiarism, from David Barton's published material, in workbooks written by Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker, and published by Cengage.

Instead only a letter from an Australian corporate lawyer (BlueRock) doubling down, and denying that their clients (Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker) and their publisher (Cengage) have breached David Barton's moral rights to be identified and acknowledged as the author of the material in question.

What would have been the right thing for Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker to do?

As soon as Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker became aware via Cengage in 2023 that material in their Workbook was actually written by David Barton they should have 'owned' the wrongdoing, and accepted responsibility:

 ·       immediately admit the plagiarism

 ·       unconditionally apologise to David Barton and his New Zealand-based publisher, that holds the copyright in his works

  ·       ask what restitution they could offer to 'make things right'

For Cengage, and Victoria Walker and Charlotte Walker, to dismiss the factual allegations and deny the damage simply compounds the harm already done.

Judge for yourselves.