My observation is that one should not put anything (poem, picture, song lyrics, essay, original music) on the internet unless one is prepared for the possibility that it might be lifted or somehow used as “inspiration”. This doesn’t imply that anything that one would put up is necessarily original or even good – just that , rightly or wrongly, it seems to be “fair game” in the minds of most internet users. They view the internet and all its content as a free source of clip-art, music snippets, etc.

We’ve already heard of numerous cases wherein journalists and bloggers have ripped off each other. The popular music producer TimbaLand was accused of ripping off a Finnish music artist.
(a claim I find to be valid). And while its boring to point out that students plagiarize internet content to meet term paper deadlines, its not boring to point out that company executives and PR people steal mission statements and strategic directions from other companies sometimes barely even bothering to paraphrase terminology.

Its like the kid who buys a copy of Garage Band and uses Apple loops to assemble a song by dragging those premade loops out onto a grid. He will claim that he is “composing” and by the current pop culture definition of the word, he is. So this mentality has carried over into most other areas of creativity. Everyone seems to be impatient and lazy since they grab the work of someone else, alter it using the marvels of technology, and then pass it on as being “original”.

I used to slave for weeks, months, sometimes years writing, arranging, and producing songs but
now its all evidently supposed to be done inside of an hour on the laptop including the time it takes to upload it to Youtube, register with a search engine, post a link on a blog, and spam all YT users and everyone else I know to let them know its there.

They grade higher for copying styles than creating your own, I personally prefer original styles myself and try not to copy anyone so this leads to conflict.

Also I think it was the fall before last, a girl in our program was caught passing off someone else’s work she printed off DA as her own for a assignment.

Plagirism is not slowing down in the schools teaching graphic design, if anything it is accelerating.

original illustrator : (Nate Williams) http://www.n8w.com/gallery/tags/illustration

wannabe so called illustrator: (Aditi Sood)

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Paintings/171892

http://grillmastersergio.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/1M/4498
(Brian Sergio – ripper)

Number one could almost be a derivative work but not enough was done to make it a unique work.

The Nissan piece is totally inspired by. It’s not the same original art work.

How much is actually original and how much is copied or used as inspiration for your own design.

My website as a matter of fact was inspired by a few themes I looked at, The eye may or may not be an original idea. I doubt that this has never been done before but I can’t recall actually seeing it.

http://www.switchmw.com/
(the original)

and this:

http://herikfandri.com
(the ripper)

SOMETHING incredible. Yayaya.

This was back from the period when they were still doing all frames by hand… so if you already have the illustrations worked out for a very specific type of scene, why wouldn’t you save yourself all that time and just reuse the layout?

Either that, or Snow White is secretly a Furry and we just never knew…

36 Crazy Fists Album vs. Rev Theory’s Album
http://bit.ly/24IA2j

Another thing is the issue of stock photos. There are also a lot of misconceptions about what is right here as well. Maybe some of you fellow designers can offer me some insight about something.

I am designing a brochure for a florist. The photos supplied of the client’s past designs are not professional quality, so someone suggested that stock photos be used from the internet instead. My concern is that this is misleading the recipients of the brochure to think that the photos are showing them the florist’s work, when stock photos of floral arrangements would in fact be showing someone else’s work. Their rationale is that it is only an example of what she could do and it doesn’t matter if the photos are her work. In my mind, as a designer, this is similar to presenting a portfolio that included something I had not designed and saying, “I can make something like this.” When I tried to explain this I was basically shut down. I understand that in business you want to please the client, but I also believe I am responsible for being ethical in my work. I’m still learning all the ins and outs of the business, but I’m trying to do my best with what I do know.

What do you think? Am I being a stickler or is this indeed an unethical thing to do? Would the issue be solved by including a small line of text alongside the images showing the website and contributor they were purchased from?

If you can offer me some advice please email ampm0409@gmail.com. Thanks in advance for any replies!