Dancing cats around the plagiarism problem

I made this sewing dancing cats a while ago, and I already had them all gone away. They were super cute but hey, I also need some place for myself in my tiny home, don't I? :)

My inspiration was an Etsy shopper creation, which I had saved in my computer a long time ago:

The problem that I was gonna raise is that, although it didn't happen yet (hey, I'm just not that popular yet! :P ), I might have been accused that, by making this toy, I have stolen someone's intellectual property. In my opinion, as long as I don't claim that it is an original design, I give credits to the original creator or link to the inspiration site, the toy that I came up with is entirely mine and I have the right to do whatever I want with it! In the very end, we can't even say that they are exactly alike, because I used different materials, I painted the details (instead of embroider them) and I added that little love-note idea!

That's why, I hardly keep myself away from entering discussions when I see artisan fellows (especially the girls that are working with FIMO) complaining that someone else has stolen their creations and ideas, making identical items that they sell on their own websites. Of course, I agree it's not a kind thing to do, especially when you are not mentioning anything about your inspiration resources, but hey, it is a free (virtual) world and you assume some risks when posting photos of your original designs. No need to get so much upset when others don't feel the pleasure to promote you or maybe they feel too ashamed to do so (because maybe their entire work is based on copying other artisans). But hey, maybe they're just repeating after you, which should make you so much proud! (NOTE: if you still don't feel like this, you should really get to know Sarah from Repeat (Cr)After Me, she is an awesome creative being, and MOM, who doesn't get upset not a tiny bit on anyone who copies her, but she encourages creative copying! I simply admire her!)

I myself didn't hack in my life just that dancing cat that you can see above, but also crochet patterns and tatting patterns that didn't came up with instructions. Is that so much wrong? Anyway, as I cover quite a broad area of interests on my blog, I don't feel like I could come up with something 100% original right now. Maybe later, when I will learn enough things about crochet, or about sewing, to do so. Till then, happy creatively repeating after... all of you! ^^