All Creative Work is Derivative.

I'm all for Copyright laws, but there are limits, if you expand the concept too far, then no one would be allowed to create anything. You could find even the smallest evidence of plagiarism and copying in all writings, visual art and creative media in all forms... if you look hard enough.


Why: Copyright control extends not just to verbatim copies, but to "derivative works." This has led to censorship on a grand scale. For example, the seminal German silent film "Nosferatu" was deemed a derivative work of "Dracula" and courts ordered all copies destroyed. Shortly before his death, author J.D. Salinger convinced U.S. courts to censor another author who transformed his characters. And so on.

The whole history of human culture evolves through copying, making tiny transformations (sometimes called "errors") with each replication. Whether it's filmmaking, illustration, graphic design, typography, journalism, science fiction writing, photography, poetry, everything!... Copying is the engine of cultural progress. It is not "stealing." It is, in fact, quite beautiful, and leads to a cultural diversity that inspires awe.

The goal would be to find clear examples of visual language evolution, here's just one of many examples, Nina Paley's Flash Animation Short Film: