"We call that plagiarism. But in business it’s called competition.”

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason comments on those copying the GroupOn approach to daily business deals:

We are proud of the idea in the way anyone would be if they invented something. All the clones were drafting everything we were doing. I was a music major, and with music, we call that plagiarism. But in business it’s called competition.” [from a post by Chris Crum.]

One recalls the famous statement in a Harvard Business Review: "Plagiarize with Pride."
See
Harvard Business Review article: Plagiarize with Pride :

Plagiarize with pride.

Softball competitors like to think that their bright ideas are sacred. But hardball players know better. They're willing to steal any good idea they say --as long as it isn't nailed down by a robust patent -- and use it for themselves.

So, note to Andrew Mason, they do call it plagiarism. You can read it right in the Harvard Business Review.

** As to the utility of the daily business deals, Lex Luther (macaw) observed, they don't impress me much.