This "you copied my skin" thing has gone way too far. According to some of you, any user creating anything that resembles, say the Hulk, should be sued by the original creator AND anyone using this artwork should be sent a cease and desist letter? As the "joeuser" article pointed out, some companies must realize that imitation will occur thus they choose to live with it I suppose.
As I said long ago, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Renato is an icon in the skinning world thus, there are going to be those who use his work as a foundation and even a model for their own. Hell, some of my own skins have ideas that came from his work. The line between "looks like" and "duplication" can sometimes be thin and hard to judge.
Don't get me wrong, I am in no way condoning duplication regardless of whether the art was created from scratch or not. What I am saying is that it seems to be getting to a point where "Hey, my skin has a blue title bar and green text so you ripped me!" will be coming along soon. I hate to see this happen because new skinners will be afraid to try any technique that someone has already done and give up before they even start. Even I have found myself looking at my work trying to imagine if there are any similarities to someone else's work.
Words similar to "I have a great lawyer and I will sue you" in this thread and in a couple others from the past scare me. As if our society isn't already litigious enough.
I hope it works out as Jafo says (he is most certainly a powerful writer) and this all goes away but... when will it occur again? *sigh*
