Online war: VITians accuse IIT-Bombay of copying their idea

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An online war has broken out on a social networking site between the students of Mumbai’s premier institution Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) and VIT University, Chennai over the proprietary rights of a page that was put up by the IITians 48 hours ago.

The page — IIT Tips, which aimed at providing some welcome relief to IITians, became the bone of contention after VITians accused the former of plagiarising an idea, which they started nearly six months before.

The IIT Tips page that was launched about 48 hours ago received nearly 6,400 likes in the first 24 hours itself as existing and former IITians welcomed the initiative. By now, the 'likes' have crossed 10,000 mark.

However, all hell broke loose when a VITian visited the page. The VITian accused the administrator of the page for copying their (VITian) 'logo' and format of the tips.

His accusation met with snide comments from IITians who were hurt by his claims. As snide comments turned to abuses the administrator decided to shut out the VITian and the fracas ended.

Plagiarism notwithstanding the page received more than 9,000 likes on the second day and the number has been increasing, which according to the administrator of the page was beyond his imagination.

“I was expecting 1,000 likes on the first day, but 1,890 in 12 hours is flattering,” the administrator said.

When contacted the VITian said that while he was not the administrator of the VIT Tips page on Facebook, he felt that the least that was expected from the most sought after IITians in India “was to be original”.