Some might say that there is neither rhyme nor reason to the rule of plagiarism when the great Bard himself was a creative "borrower." No one tries to plagiarize Shakespeare because – among other reasons – getting caught is a foregone conclusion. But occasionally an intemperate, hot-blooded youth will think a little borrowing and re-mixing is simply fair play
Tag: plagiarism
Stealing the words out of my mouth
Shakespeare Veritas
Can one desire too much of a good thing? Since I received command to do this business I have not slept one wink. If you asked it of me, I could a tale unfold . . .
Willy the Wizard vs. Harry Potter
Nothing breeds lawsuits like success. Apart from The Bible and the complete works of William Shakespeare, nothing has captured the hearts and minds of a generation of readers like the Harry Potter saga. In our modern age, of course, the price of fame is being subject to calumny and accusations of plagiarism, copyright infringement, and [...]
When Is Re-Mixing Copyright Infringement?
Several years ago, Jonathan Lethem wrote a brilliant article defending the use of "borrowing" by writers in their pursuit of new creation, arguing that creation itself necessarily calls upon the inchoate melange of what one has read over one's life as an unconscious source of style, language, allegory, sentence structure, plot, and pacing, and that -- in a sense -- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery