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Top Spanish writer fined €200K for plagiarism

Highly-acclaimed Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte has coughed up more than €200,000 in damages after he was found guilty of copying a movie script.

Published: 17 July 2013 10:36 CEST
Top Spanish writer fined €200K for plagiarism
Pérez-Reverte labelled the court’s ruling as an “ambush” and a means of “extortion to get money out of me after ten years.” Photo: Cristina Quicler/AFP

The writer and academic, hugely popular in the Spanish-speaking world for his Alatriste novels, was first accused back in 2003 of stealing scriptwriter Antonio González-Vigil’s screenplay “Gitano”, Gypsy in English.

Pérez-Reverte, a native of the south-eastern Spanish province of Murcia, has put an end to a decade-long court saga by paying up to the tune of €212,529 for his alleged plagiarism.

“The Provincial High Court of Madrid has ignored two mercantile court sentences and five on the part of Spain’s Society of Authors and Publishers, SGAE, which found me not guilty,” he told national daily El Mundo on Tuesday.

Pérez-Reverte labelled the court’s ruling as an “ambush” and a means of “extortion to get money out of me after ten years.”

The former war correspondent told national daily ABC that scriptwriter González-Vigil has been “threatening and harassing me since 2010.”

The initial fine agreed upon in 2011 was €80,000, but according to Pérez-Reverte, “given the current state of affairs” González-Vigil put pressure on the Provincial High Court to raise the sum for economic and moral damages.

Gitano was shot in 2000, starring flamenco dancer Joaquín Cortés and French model Laetitia Casta.

The film, which deals with the confrontation between two gypsy clans, is given a 3.8 by movie site IMDB. 

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Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home

Children who live with someone ill with coronavirus-like symptoms should not attend kindergarten or school, Denmark's health minister has announced, responding to widespread concern surrounding the reopening of the country's schools.

Published: 14 April 2020 09:32 CEST
Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home
Parents have been worried about the reopening. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix
Magnus Heunicke announced the new policy in a press release sent out on Sunday, following widespread criticism of the guidance from the Danish Health Authority (Sundhetsstyrelsen) that having sick relatives at home should not prevent children returning when schools reopen this week. 
 

“Many have been unsure whether the right measures have been taken when schools and daycare services open up again on Wednesday,” Heunicke said in the press release. 
 
“In particular there have been questions over whether children should attend kindergarten or school if someone is infected with Covid-19 at home. This uncertainty is now being taken away by the government.” 
 
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Municipal governments in Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense, among others, had already responded to public unease about children bringing the infection from home by saying they would defy the health authority and allow the families of children who have sick people at home to keep them home. 
 
 

The Danish government's decision to overrule its own health authority sees the country's policy diverge from that of neighbouring Sweden, where the advice to parents is that children should be sent to school even if someone at home is ill. 
 
Heunicke said that the decision had followed a reappraisal of how likely it is that children will be able to follow hygiene requirements. 
 
“There are a number of strict requirements for cleaning, hygiene and self-insulation when there is a coronavirus infection at home. This can be really difficult for families with smaller children, and we understand that there are many who are unsure about this situation,” he said.  
 
“Therefore, in the government, we have decided, on a precautionary principle, that children living in a household with a person who has coronavirus should not attend school or daycare.” 
 
This decision applies only to children, and not to adult staff who work in schools or kindergartens, as the ministry believes adult staff will be better able to follow sanitary guidelines.  
 
According to a survey by Local Government Denmark, which represents the country's municipalities, over half of Denmark's municipalities plan to reopen schools and kindergartens on Wednesday, with the rest following no later than Monday. 
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