Copywrite laws are they to vague?

[Erax]

Posted by Will :

say a writer has a terrible case of writers block. The writer comes across a short story done by someone else, and begins writing with the story as a model; the writer doesn't take a single sentance fragment from the original, but does use the same characters (with different names), plot, setting, etc. That, in my view, is more than a bit unoriginal, but should not violate copyright... the writer's story is its own, nothing tangible was taken from the "original". (As a side note, I would personally think it proper to let the "original's" author and any readers know about the source of the story idea, but I don't think that should be mandated by copyright law).

That is essentially what I did in my story here in the forums in the June 19 post, although with me it wasn't a case of writer's block, I had been meaning to do that scene for about 20 days and had to move the story along until it was possible to insert it. And I mentioned the original work, encouraging people to go out and buy it.