Are they the same or not?

This article fittingly explores my question about this week’s readings. What happens if you produce similar work to someone else? Does it matter if you unconsciously did it or not?

What I have dubbed the milk crate debate (for the sake of it rhyming) is about a tale of two artists who both created milk crate sculptures. I learnt in the reading about blogs and Australian law that copyright doesn’t protect the actual idea but only the material form of the idea. Therefore they protect the milk crate artwork but not the idea of a milk crate sculpture itself.

To see if it breached copyright laws they will need to examine both pieces carefully. The Sydney based artist, Hany Armanious must prove that they have never seen the work before. Which seems to be nearly impossible. How can you prove you have never seen their work before? Or is it more so that you prove that your inspirations and source of creativity were different? While the Melbourne artist, Jarrad Kennedy firstly needs to prove that his work was independently created but also that Hany’s work had many elements of his work.