"Creators here and everywhere are always and at all times building upon the creativity that went before and that surrounds them now. That building is always and everywhere at least partially done without permission and without compensating the original creator." Lawrence Lessig, "Creators"*

"If 'piracy' means using the creative property of others without their permission-- if 'if value, then right' is true-- then the history of the content industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of 'big media' today-- film, records, radio, and cable TV-- was born of a kind of piracy so defined. The consistent story is how last generation's pirates join this generation's country club-- until now." Lawrence Lessig, "Pirates"*

There is a fine line between creating something that is your own, perhaps built off of someone else's idea, and just plain stealing an idea. Lawrence Lessig discusses "Disney creativity" in his article*, examining where the line is. Is there a line at all? Lessig refers to "derivative works", something that was obviously inspired by one or another idea that already exists. But who does credit for this work belong to? Does it all belong to the originator of the idea, the one who thought up the place where it all starts? Or perhaps it belongs to the person who did the expanding; who used what was there to take the idea in new directions that no one had thought of before. But if that is the case, then they should have some credit for thinking of the new part of the idea, since they took part in original thought. Ideally, credit would be given to each person for their part of the result. But depending on where the line is drawn is where credit and value are attributed.

In some situations, such as with writing, recording, producing, selling and playing music, depending on what someone wants to do with it and how it is played, different people get credit and paid for their word. Lessig uses the example that if an artist records music and it is played on the radio, the composer gets paid and the artist does not. However, if a person wants to record a composer's music, once the composer has sold their music at a price to one person, all any other person has to do to get the rights to record that music is pay a one-time fee to the composer and they are free to do with it as they please.

In a different situation, if an author writes a book, they can sell that manuscript to who they choose at whatever price they choose. Some people (authors of books) have the right to choose how much their work gets sold for, whereas others (the composer of music) is told the price they can sell their work for. And depending on how the audience receives their work determines who gets paid and how much.

There are a large number of loopholes associated with selling intellectual property, and a lot of ways to pirate work without being stopped or considered in trouble. Not to mention the amount of black-market trading and sharing that goes on within the enormity that is the internet society. Though some occasionally get caught, such as individuals with noticeably high levels of underground trading*, millions of dollars of industry goods are shared without the value of a person's work being credited or paid for.

Several companies have taken proactive steps, such as iTunes selling songs for $.99 and albums for around $9.99. Putting reasonable prices on goods helps to convince consumers to pay for what they are taking. Similarly, iStockPhoto has images for sale for $1.00. Sites like these allow amateurs and professionals to get paid for what they do, though the market that amateur work appeals to is being drawn away from the professionals.

Ultimately, it is a matter of not overstepping one's boundaries and onto another's toes. Giving credit to others for their work and taking credit only for yours shows respect for what others have done while being able to use that work for inspiration for oneself.