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There is NOT a copyright issue here. There are only so many ways to say that a person went to a certain college, for example. Mere coincidental phrasings that overlap when describing bullet-point information is NOT a copyright violation. For example, in the George Washington article, it might very well say "George Washington was the first president of the United States." That same exact sentence has admittedly appeared in countless textbooks for years and years. Reciting the same objective, biographical fact on a Wikipedia page is NOT a copyright violation.ProfReader (talk) 18:38, 5 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I'm afraid that I don't agree. For example, compare the start of the second paragraph of the initial version of the article with the presumed source:
Our article
The source
Chief Justice Moss was born on the farm of his parents, James Lucius and Janie Ford Moss, in York County on July 15, 1903. He attended Erskine College and completed his legal education at the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1927.
Chief Justice Moss was born on the farm of his parents, James Lucius and Janie Ford Moss in York County on July 15, 1903. He attended Erskine College and completed his legal education at the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1927.
I see no difference, though some phrases were chopped out in subsequent edits. Later we find:
Our article
The source
During his term as Chief Justice, he presided over the move of the Supreme Court from the State House to its current location on Gervais Street.
During his term as Chief Justice, he presided over the move of the Supreme Court from the State House to its current location, ...
This edit added content from the Spartanburg Herald-Journal:
Our article
The source
... in reference to a group of blacks who were protesting the conviction of a black man who had been convicted in the shooting of a white teacher in Pendleton, South Carolina.
... in reference to a group of blacks protesting the conviction of a black man in the shooting of a white Pendleton teacher.
That, I'm afraid, is much too close to the original. The article needs to be thoroughly checked, and is listed at WP:CP for that reason. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 20:05, 5 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I've rewritten the article to remove copyvio while keeping the meaning, and have removed the copyright violation template. Robert McClenon (talk) 23:13, 5 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
And now the article is being improved. See, it wasn't that hard. Robert McClenon (talk) 23:47, 5 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I appreciate your efforts, but I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. :/ The reason for the process is to avoid creating derivative work issues. We cannot follow the source that closely. This is why the process requires rewriting from scratch. If you would care to rewrite the two sentences I've removed, you would be welcome to do so. Please be sure to put them in your own words and structure. --Moonriddengirl(talk) 23:05, 30 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
