One reason Island records sued is that Negativland stole U2's creativity, which is completely false because Negativland made an original track. U2's record company cannot argue against that, although "I Still Haven't Found What I"m Looking For" was hinted in the song, it's still a completely different and new composition. Another reason is that Island records overlooked the possibility of the song being a parody of U2's song. Making something into a parody is completely legal to the copyright laws yet Island Records ended up winning the case. This is partly because Negativland didn't have the money to hire an attorney that could beat Island Record's, but Negativland put up a good fight. Copyright cases for music sampling happen very frequently, but not all these cases are as bad as they sound. The songs that are being produced from music samples are original and new and record companies should be willing to let their music be used for creative expression.
Some believe that originality in modern society is no longer possible and the use of artistic appropriation is wrong, but without it originality will never prevail. Artists and designers from all over the world, ranging from every era in history, have always borrowed ideas from other people's work. For example, there are millions of different types of chairs available for purchase. The only difference of these chairs is how they are made, and how they look. But they all have the same function, and they are all considered chairs. This act is called innovation, which is basically taking the original idea and making it into one's own. Everyone should accept this act of borrowing ideas, or artistic appropriation, because it not only keeps originality alive, but also allows brand new ideas to flow. This process is what is keeping originality from running dry today.
The use of artistic appropriation can be found all over the Internet, especially in websites like YouTube.
