The Highest Form Of Flattery?

The common belief is that the highest form of flattery is imitation, not plagiarism.

Plagiarism is theft. Imitation takes an original idea, and expands on it with new ideas. Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

Well said.....

I feel as if I am taking this thread off topic by responding to the OP lol, but here is just a quick note on the subject.

When I am creating a website I always try to listen to what the person wants and have her/him participate as much as possible if they want. As for someone else stealing a design that I created..... I won't say it does not make me angry initially, but I move on. As long as it is not directly affecting my business. Is it stealing? Yes Is it a form of flattery? Kind of, but it is one I could do without. How about just send me a quick note saying you liked something I did instead For the record I never use templates other than the ones I create for each website and that person owns it after it is done.

On the other hand if you look at a lot of websites and see photos of diamonds or skylines or fountains etc.... or even a photo script that is open source and free to use as long as you give credit to make the images pop out and then ask the person using these items, "Did you give photo credit or scripting credits in your code" or better yet. "Did you even ask if you could use that photo of the NYC skyline that was taken by X photographer that sells the prints for her/his business?" I am not singling anyone out, let me make that clear. Only observations we should try and think about when pointing fingers because we are all guilty of some sort of Plagiarism or imitation.

I remembered something my Art teacher had said to me and looked it up because it seemed fitting for this topic but before posting just the quote I wanted to be sure and find some explanations.

"Good artists copy, great artists steal. Pablo Picasso"

"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something."

"In other words how to do draw a line between copying and stealing? Green Pajamas"

"I think the crux of it is that no artist creates anything. Everything he does is a progression of what was done before.

The difference is that a great artist is able to transform what he has received so significantly that it looks like he has produced something that did not exist before. He hasn't, though, it was all just slight of hand.

"There is nothing new under the sun" - Ecclesiastes 1:9

These are some great explanations. I tend to agree there are no truly original concepts. We were influenced somewhere along the way and merely changed the words or shaped the images to create something that represents what we want to express using our own vision. let's not take ourselves too seriously in 100 years we will all be imitated, mocked or forgotten anyway. Vive pro die (Did I say this correct?)

Now for some humor.
A famous art dealer travelled far to visit Picasso so he authenticate a painting he just purchased.

"It's a fake," Picasso said after taking one glance at it. Disappointed, the art dealer left.

Several months later, he acquired another Picasso and took it to him again so he could authenticate it.

"It's a fake," Picasso said again.

"But I saw you paint this not more than a year ago," replied the art dealer.

Picasso replied, "Yes, I often paint fakes."

In case this post does not go over well with some. I LIKE DOGS TOO! ooops, that was not as quick a note as I thought it would be.