Why are intellectual property and copyright laws so strict in America? It’s hard for me to even make this claim because I certainly have not studied the laws in other countries, but from my few readings and discussions in other classes, it seems like in America we take these laws way too seriously. I like what Miller says about remixing and all throughout reading, I kept thinking of Lawrence Lessig. He certainly has very similar ideas on copyright laws and I agree with them. It seems as though everything new in literature, music, and other art forms is influenced in one way or another by a previous piece. It’s as though music is much easier to notice the sampling because of the actual sounds. Still, I think a new sound is created and that new sampling or remix does not detract from the original inspiration.

That said, I wonder if anything can still be original. Whether authorial intent plays a role or just the criticism of the audience makes something sampled, there seems to always be a comparison or a harkening back to a previous form. I have yet to read a book, or hear a song or album, that is not likened to something before it, either for its similarities or blatant attempts to be different. Of course, originality seems to have varying meanings then. Some work has to be original. Whether influenced or not, any remix or sampling is original in its own form and has to have properties that separates it from the predecessor, otherwise it is an exact copy. Whether is varies only in the handwriting, there is something different about it that makes it unique.