Copying and copyrights

Today there was a discussion/thread in the Etsy forums about copying and copyrights, one of many. The gist is that you cannot by law copy someone else's creation or idea.

The truth is that since the beginning of time things have been invented and made and improved upon and evolved by someone trying to imitate someone else and making little changes along the way. And nothing ever stops evolving, nothing is ever perfected to the point that no other changes can be made to it. So, in essence, every one has been a copier.

Even the inventor of the wheel must have seen and been inspired by other things. Perhaps one windy day he saw a round stone or piece of wood rolling along easily and effortlessly on the ground and he thought what a neat and fast way it would be to move things with such a contraption. And he may or may not have invented the wheel to the point where it could be useful, but someone else must have improved on his idea and ad infinitum until today we have wheels that move cars and machinery, and even those may eventually be improved upon or even become absolete because better forms of locomotion could have been invented.

I find it laughable when they speak of "copying" when the issue is merely imitation, which we all in one way or another, a little or a lot, have been guilty of. I simply call it "inspiration" since most artists and inventors use it as a base for their designs and inventions.