# Moral Quandary - Trivia Pub Quiz is plagiarizing questions from book **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991 "2010-12-21T19:35:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/1 "2010-12-21T19:35:57Z")
My wife and I play at a pub quiz twice a week. We always have fun - win or lose. However, the company that runs the quiz has begun stealing questions - and bonuses - out of a trivia book I own. They are not just using facts, which likely would be “fair use”, but many of their questions (including the complex, multi-part final question from each quiz) are copied verbatim from the book. Since I have started noticing this, I have been internally debating whether to alert the author. Additional facts: I believe the pub quiz company is for-profit, and makes money from the bars and from selling advertising on their quiz sheets. I wouldn’t care as much if it was for charity or something similar. I have corresponded with the trivia book author in the past, so I can contact him directly. Do I tell the author? Also, is this considered plagiarism, since it is not being published? I’m pretty worried that if I report the company, the pub quiz will disappear. But I sure don’t think they should be using the book questions without crediting/paying the author. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/2 "2010-12-21T19:50:32Z")
Are you certain they are not? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/3 "2010-12-21T19:58:13Z")
I think it’s not your decision to make. I’d pass it on to the author and let him determine if it’s something he needs to pursue. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/4 "2010-12-21T20:10:20Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Are you certain they are not? I’m not certain, but from talking to some of the hosts, the company owners claim to write their own questions (and may have one staff writer as well). No one has ever heard of any credit being given to any book writers. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/5 "2010-12-21T21:14:01Z")
Wouldn’t be the first time this sort of thing has happened. > **[Play Trivia Online @ Trivia Hall Of Fame!](https://www.triviahalloffame.com/columbo.php)** > > Trivia players world-wide jockey for position on the Trivia Hall of Fame. A new game and 12 new questions every week. Each question is researched and sourced. More available on request. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/6 "2010-12-21T21:14:12Z")
What kind of prizes can you get for doing well in the quiz, and are you taking advantage of your familiarity with the book to win them? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/7 "2010-12-22T03:10:52Z")
On James Lipton’s “Inside the Actors Studio”, when he interviewed Harrison Ford, he phrase a question almost identically to one I’d written as a question in a [FunTrivia.com](http://FunTrivia.com) quiz. I suspected plagiarism, but it wasn’t worth it to me to pursue. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/8 "2010-12-22T10:43:06Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I think it’s not your decision to make. I’d pass it on to the author and let him determine if it’s something he needs to pursue. This. Maybe the author knows already, maybe not. But if he doesn’t know, telling him about it will at least let him make the decision of whether it’s worth pursuing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/9 "2010-12-22T12:19:43Z")
> [@Strainger](#): > > Wouldn’t be the first time this sort of thing has happened. > [http://www.triviahalloffame.com/columbo.aspx](http://www.triviahalloffame.com/columbo.aspx) Does that mean the author wouldn’t have a case, since the questions are in game form? If so, that’s asinine. And you’re talking to someone who generally thinks U.S. copyright is too strict. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/10 "2010-12-22T13:54:39Z")
Trivia won’t go away; it’s a money-maker for the pub. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/11 "2010-12-22T14:22:36Z")
Why don’t you talk to the trivia company first? They may not know their staff writer is supplying questions from a book and then knocking off to play Halo (or whatever). ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/12 "2010-12-22T14:38:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Why don’t you talk to the trivia company first? They may not know their staff writer is supplying questions from a book and then knocking off to play Halo (or whatever). It’s possible, but recently the questions have been close to 30% from the book, and the final questions are closer to 70%. It’s no excuse in this case. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/13 "2010-12-22T14:40:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > What kind of prizes can you get for doing well in the quiz, and are you taking advantage of your familiarity with the book to win them? The usual prize is a $25 gift card. I haven’t memorized the answers (the book format doesn’t place them near the questions) and am annoyed that I can’t look too closely at the book because I don’t want to have the answers spoon-fed to me - where’s the fun in that? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/14 "2010-12-22T14:49:04Z")
I’d say tell the people in charge of the quiz, but not with the “the author will sue you angle!” but with the “hey, if more people find out you’re taking questions directly from this book, then they’ll buy the book and ‘cheat’.” I realize it’s not technically cheating as long as they don’t have the book in front of them during the quiz itself, but I imagine that the pub quiz company wouldn’t like it when ten teams all tie for first place and have to each be given gift cards and prizes because they all read the book ten times over. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/15 "2010-12-22T15:12:25Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I’d say tell the people in charge of the quiz, but not with the “the author will sue you angle!” but with the “hey, if more people find out you’re taking questions directly from this book, then they’ll buy the book and ‘cheat’.” > > I realize it’s not technically cheating as long as they don’t have the book in front of them during the quiz itself, but I imagine that the pub quiz company wouldn’t like it when ten teams all tie for first place and have to each be given gift cards and prizes because they all read the book ten times over. Don’t worry - I’d never approach the quiz people like that. As I indicated, I don’t want them to be sued. It’s just pinging my moral meter that they are stealing their questions. As to other teams using the book - it’s a HUGE book and not in a format that is easily memorized. I doubt many people would try, or be able, to memorize the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/16 "2010-12-22T16:51:52Z")
So you’re hesitant about talking to the author, you don’t want to talk to the quiz organizers, and you don’t want to use the book for yourself. I’m at a loss. What the hell DO you want to do? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/17 "2010-12-22T16:52:26Z")
Rock. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/18 "2010-12-22T17:12:55Z")
Send an anonymous note to the quiz organizers. Tell them you know the source of their trivia (name the source) and hope that in the future they’ll be using original material. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/19 "2010-12-22T17:22:53Z")
At first I thought this was just a bartender reading questions off handwritten index cards, but if it’s an outside company, that goes to multiple bars, then I’d lean toward contacting the author. I can’t quite put a finger on why it makes a difference to me, but its does. Maybe because the former is probably expected by anyone who writes a trivia book, but the latter is something the author could hope to keep tabs on. And it is his material. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/20 "2010-12-22T19:02:02Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > So you’re hesitant about talking to the author, you don’t want to talk to the quiz organizers, and you don’t want to use the book for yourself. > > I’m at a loss. What the hell DO you want to do? I probably **will** talk to the author. I’ve already talked to the underlings (hosts) and they basically had no reaction. Using the book for myself undermines the point of going to trivia nights, which is to have fun rattling my brain. I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions I hadn’t already thought about. And to see if morally, it was or was not a big deal. I already knew about other trivia books being raided by Trivia Pursuit, and I’m not sure how this compares. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991.md?page=2)