“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn” - T.S Eliot.
It’s safe to say that everything when it comes to art, has been created. That’s why when we see tropes happening in TV shows or movies, we can set ourselves for what we’ll be seeing. It’s about the subversion of said tropes that make art unique.
In our daily lives, we consume so much media and information that we think about and create art. Sometimes, the art you’ve made could be similar to something else another person has also created. does it mean you’re a thief?
When does art become plagiarism? And what is the difference between inspiration and plagiarism?
Recently, famed singer and composer, Amr Mostafa, made serious accusations against multiple artists for plagiarism.
One of the accused was Ramy Sabry, who was accused of plagiarising his work and using Amr’s song’s “Ra2sa” Melody in Sabry’s song “Yemkn 5er”
Threatened Sabry to sue and made copyright claims against him for his song on Youtube. In response, Sabry deleted his song from all platforms and insisted that he did not copy Amr Mostafa and that he has great respect for the artist.
This ignited a question of plagiarism and inspiration and how sometimes coincidences happen.
Looking back at history, we can find lots of examples where people share the same thoughts and work on their art that end up looking similar.
For instance, in 1946, Warner Brothers made a cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny playing Hungarian Rhapsody number 2 on the piano, while a mouse was inside it.
Five months later, MGM released a cartoon featuring Tom the Cat playing the Hungarian Rhapsody number 2 on the piano, while Jerry the Mouse was inside it.
The premise sounds similar but not the same. It just happens that both studios were working on the same idea at the same time.
Other examples include movies like The Illusionist and the Prestige, White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen, Antz and a Bug`s Life, Despicable Me and Megamind, Dante’s Peak, and Volcano
From the outside, it seemed like a case of plagiarism but in reality, people can accidentally share the same idea or a concept, and work on it and that’s not copying.
Let’s get back to music, Led Zeppelin, one of the most famous bands in the world, has been sampled by various artists from Beyonce’s Don’t Hurt Yourself to Eminem`s Kim, Tupac Shakur’s Life’s So Hard and Beastie Boys Beastie Groove.
Great artists who cemented themselves as creatives do borrow samples and make their own sounds.
Does it mean that Amr Mostafa was in the wrong? Does sampling or borrowing not give the artist credit or rights to sue?
It differs depending on the source of the inspiration and the context.
The hit single “blurred lines” by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams was a song that was released in 2013 and has over 10 billion views on youtube.
Both artists were sued by the family of the late Marvin Gaye, arguing that it copied his disco-era hit “Got to Give It Up.”
In 2015, the jury ruled in favor of the Gaye estate and awarded $7.4 million in damages.
Other cases include Dua Lipa being sued by the reggae band Artikal, claiming that the singer’s hit song “Levitating” was taken from their song “live your life”. The case was dropped as a federal judge cast serious doubt on the lawsuit’s allegations, stating Artikal Sound System failed to prove that Lipa and the creators of Lipa’s hit had access to “Live Your Life” prior to making the song.
Dua Lipa has been sampling in lots of her songs, from physical, which is sampled after the late Olivia Newton-John, to love again which is sampled after the song "My Woman" by Al Bowlly with Lew Stone.
A tricky situation nonetheless, this is not a black-and-white case where we can easily accuse artists like Ramy Sabry of theft. At the same time, we understand where Amr Mostafa is coming from.
The most important thing we have to keep in mind is whether we like it or not, everything is a copy of a copy of a copy.
It’s the artist's job to insert his take and unique vision into what he’s making.
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