Three technological trends—the ubiquity of information in digital form, the widespread use of computer networks, and the rapid proliferation of the World Wide Web—have profound implications for the way intellectual property (IP) is created, distributed, and accessed by virtually every sector of society.
The web is such a remarkable resource of information that one doesn't think about how the publishers of that information are/can be effected, and nowadays it's just too easy to steal it. But there's a fine line between originality and inspiration that will probably never be defined.
My opening statement is totally plagiarized. I didn't cite it or give credit where credit is due (The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age Computer Science and Telecommunications Board), and is therefore a black-and-white case of infringement. But as designers, we're constantly surrounded by inspiration, our minds are just programmed to interpret 'things' into our own vision. And being that it's highlighy unlikely that we create something that did not derive from any bit of outside inspiration, we will forever be faced with the real possibility of copy write infringement. So I guess we should design as we have no worry in the world and hope we don't become overly popular, cite everything, or follow the Fair Use Doctrine verbatim? But if there's so many stipulations, is it still considered design - the ability to express oneself freely?
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