I thought it would be interesting to have a mature discussion on the idea of intellectual property. You're welcome to your opinions, but don't turn this into a fight or I'll lock this thread a heartbeat.
I'll begin with a quote:"Good artists copy. Great artists steal." -Pablo Picasso (attributed?)
The meaning of the quote is somewhat unclear, and pretty controversial. It might simply be a weird, unapologetic defense of stealing. Or maybe it's an edgy way of saying that being totally original is impossible since we are influenced by everything we see. What do you think it means? Do you agree?
The second thing I'd like to pose to everybody is whether we are all being hypocritical by selectively condemning some acts of theft, and ignoring others. I do believe that some of the accusations of theft made about Mr. Ducharme are valid. But I haven't seen much acknowledgement of the fact that Eric's work has almost certainly been reverse engineered and adopted by others in the community. On the other hand, the very first tails Mr. Ducharme ever sold were fabric, and he was accused of stealing the idea from FoxMoon Productions. This is a pretty weird accusation, since nowadays the design of a basic fabric tail is considered so simple that the idea that someone could feel possessive of it seems hard to believe. Additionally, Make Van Daal purchased one of the tails used in the 13th Year and used reproductions of its fin in tails that he sold. Is this wrong? Is everyone guilty? Is no one?
So what is theft?
How does one "own" something intangible such as an idea or a method?
And do we condemn acts of theft inconstantly?
Discuss.
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