Re: Knock-off legalities?

Gita wrote:

> SewStorm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> > Plagiarism is if you take someone else's actual words, in the exact same
> > configuration, and use them as your own, without any kind of credit to the
> > original author. 
>
>
> No, plagiarism applies to ideas, not just words.  Even Webster's 
> dictionary defines it as "to steal and pass off the ideas or words of 
> another as ones own" and "to present as new and original an idea or 
> product derived from an existing source".  So, knocking off an existing 
> design and calling it your own original design could be considered 
> plagiarism.

Plagiarism is fairly limited to written works.  Copying of 
design gets into the area of copyright infringement, or 
trademark infringement.  But imitation is also the 
sincerest form of flattery.

As to plagiarism applying to ideas, where would we be if 
West Side Story were considered plagiarism of Romeo and 
Juliet?  It does, after all, meet the limitation of the 
written work, but on the other hand, there are really only 
about 6 to 10 plots to work with.
--

Joanne <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/
Life is about the journey, not about the destination.