In music, it's generally pretty accepted to do a cover song. But the economics of it were bizarre,. chuck berry wrote all these amazing songs that the rolling stones and the beetles and many other people copied. And he was theoretically supposed to get a few pennies per record that was made. Who knows if he ever got it. I think he didn't even own his song writing.
Are there downsides to “personality plagiarism”? Why did no one buy the Crayola Crayon Carver? And should Stephen feel bad for copying Angela’s email signature?