In Praise of Plagiarism. Perhaps.

Somewhat appropriately I can't remember where I found this link. Anyway, it's an article called Something Borrowed by Malcolm Gladwell.

True, copying could go too far. There were times when one artist was simply replicating the work of another, and to let that pass inhibited true creativity. But it was equally dangerous to be overly vigilant in policing creative expression, because if Led Zeppelin hadn’t been free to mine the blues for inspiration we wouldn’t have got “Whole Lotta Love,” and if Kurt Cobain couldn’t listen to “More Than a Feeling” and pick out and transform the part he really liked we wouldn’t have “Smells Like Teen Spirit”—and, in the evolution of rock, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a real step forward from “More Than a Feeling.”

I always find copyright to be one of those contentious issues that never gets resolved satisfactorily. On the one hand I do want musicians to profit from their original work and on the other I don't want medicine companies using their privileged position to exploit the sick. Gladwell seems happy to take each issue on a case-by-case basis, but that's as open to inconsistency as any position.