Crediting design influence

[Enfield Guy]

I was looking at this thread http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=196175 and thought, Should a maker reveal the design influence of a piece to a customer?

I love curves, and try to introduce them into my work whenever I can. Below are a few pics of pieces I have done in the past. The stool in particular draws heavy influence from an expired 1970"s expired patent. I have modified the design extensively to make the item producible in batch form as well as vastly improving the structural integrity of the item. So the question is, "is it now my design, If not, should I credit the original designer?

Just putting it out there, I reckon there will be polar views on this.

Cheers
Bevan

[AlexS]

Most designs are derivative to some extent. I can follow the evolution of one particular jewellery chest - I made one inspired by John Lloyd, someone at Sturt made one inspired by mine, and someone from a more recent class has made one inspired by his. I'll bet that John Lloyd was inspired by an earlier design. Each is different and you can see how one leads to the other. It's nice when this influence is acknowledged, but unless it's a copy of someone else's design, not essential.
If it's a copy of someone else's design, even with minor changes, the original designer should be acknowledged, but you shouldn't make copies for commercial use without permission.