Copyright or copy right?

By: Sorab Ghaswalla

Is there original writing left? (Or was there any to begin with? Well, surely writer Adam or novelist Eve must have penned those first words ever.)

All content emanates from an idea, so to expand on my first question - is there any original idea left? Content providers (and I use that word here to include not only writers but artists, film-makers, artistes, journalists, et all) are just re-telling the “same ole, same ole.” Even this very subject, for that matter, plagiarism, has been done to death.

In the digital world that we are in today, plagiarism exists but you shall find no plagiarists. Such is the nature of the content beast that defining one is problematic.

I shall get more granular - all of us in the content world are aware that duplicating someone’s work is a no no. Which means, you can`t put your name on John Doe`s poem or Jane Doe`s research. Simple enough, as clear as day and night.

But what about ideas?

For every idea you get as a content provider, there are already 10 versions, including the “original” (or what you thought was one) available on the Web.

Yes, I agree that plagiarism includes the theft of ideas. But tell me the last time you saw this legend at the end of an article or a YouTube video: Sources: XTM University or ZY blog, and so on? Writing this installment of my newsletter on the subject of plagiarism….have I copied, too?

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