What's Wrong with Plagiarism?
A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that Shanghai Expo theme song titled A City with Unlimited Potential "composed" by Eric Suen with Cantonese lyrics by Chan Siu-Kei was an exact copy of a 1997 song written by a Japanese singer-songwriter named Mayo Okamoto.
Did Okamoto appeal for copyright arbitration by the World Trade Organization?
That's what she didn't. Instead she sent a letter to someone in Shanghai saying she felt greatly honored to know the tune she wrote 13 years ago was "selected" to promote Expo 2010.
I think she did the right thing.
She certainly knew her compatriots are as good, if a little more sophisticated, at copying someone else's works.
Some four years ago, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology awarded a prominent painter named Yoshihiko Wada its prestigious "Art Encouragement Prize" for his masterpieces which later turned out to be exact copies of the works by Italian painter Alberto Sughi. This was just yet another confirmation that the Japanese still remain masters of piracy.
More importantly I opine that in the world of art, plagiarism is not a crime because in general the "original" artist is as responsible for the copyright infringement as the copycat is.
The Chinese and the Japanese really deserve each other. ·