“These days of self-righteous and ignorant artists’ brand control has spawned a childish over-protection of ‘copyrights.’ Every Tom, Dick and Harry assumes their own scribblings are so precious that they must be protected against – whom? I dunno. But we all seem to fight until blood is drawn over the most minute and silly infringement imaginable. It’s like we’re in some amateur profession wrestlin’ match of ‘GIMMEE!’ So boring.
The truth is that we exist in a postmodern era where creativity has become hopelessly derivative and exploitative. We don’t come up with original thoughts anymore; we come up with new adaptations of older ideas – appropriation. That is the though process of the modern world we inhabit. There are NO original ideas in graphic design anymore. Show me the piece and I can show you precedent after precedent – and done better. The very idea that we have original ideas to copyright is laughable.
So, whenever I hear about the ‘who was first’ argument, I chuckle.”
— Art Chantry (via Art Chantry Speaks)