The Ecstasy of Influence: Give All

 In The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism, Jonathan Lethem discusses his view of current/corrupted copyright, trademark, and patent law. Since the beginning of authorship, all authored work has been influenced by something - many times by others' work. Lethem's point of view that current copyright and patent laws hinder certain creative possibilities seems very well plausible. As a student, I have heard time after time that even forgetting to cite a quote is considered plagiarism and could result in an immediate failure of the class. Luckily, I have come to learn to cite EVERYTHING.
Although the ownership and use of authored work should be protected, I agree with Lethem that current laws have become too strict. Lethem's use of examples in his own 'plagiarism' assists in making his arguments stronger and much more persuasive.
In The Ecstasy of Influence, Lethem writes, "The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors but to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts. To this end, copyright assures authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work. This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate." Without influence by previous works, many current writings, art, music, etc. might have never come to exist.