11-year-old sues President House officials over plagiarism of his speech

Dunya News

Sabeel Haider claims that his speech is being used without his consent.

ISLAMABAD (Daily Dunya) - Eleven-year-old Mohammad Sabeel Haider, who is sixth-grade student at Islamabad Model College for Boys, has sued officials of President House over alleged plagiarism of his speech without his consent.

According to news aired on a private TV channel, Sabeel Haider said on Friday that he was chosen to deliver a speech at the President House in Islamabad on December 22.

The ceremony was recorded and is supposed to be aired on Pakistan Television on December 25, marking the 141st birth anniversary of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. However, when Sabeel arrived at the President’s House, he was informed he will no longer be delivering the speech.

He said in his petition that a tenth-grader delivered the speech he had written and prepared, alleging that his intellectual property was stolen. According to Sabeel’s lawyer, as per Section 3 of Intellectual Property and Copyrights Ordinance 1967, a literary piece that the person has produced themselves cannot be used by a third party without their consent.