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From allegations against 鈥�Harry Potter鈥� author J.K. Rowling to demonstrable wrongdoing by reporters at The New York Times and The Daily Beast, February might as well be 鈥淣ational Plagiarism Month.鈥澛�

It would thus be easy to view the case of 17-year-old German novelist Helene Hegemann as the exclamation point to this series of copying controversies.聽

What separates Ms. Hegemann, though, isn鈥檛 simply her young age, but her response to allegations that she lifted almost an entire page from the little-known novel 鈥淪trobo.鈥澛�

Whereas New York Times reporter Zachery Kouwe and The Daily Beast鈥檚 Gerald Posner both professed shock at the accusations against them, admitted the seriousness of their offenses, and then resigned, Hegemann stands firmly by her techniques.聽

She insists that by incorporating her own fresh take on others鈥� writings, she鈥檚 simply engaging in a new kind of Generation-Y literary remixing.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity,鈥� Hegemann said in a statement. That view is hardly an outlier. Expect to see more of this approach to intellectual property as Millennials (sometimes called Generation Y) come to dominate culture.聽

Indeed, some literary heavy hitters are seeing things the same way: Hegemann鈥檚 novel, 鈥淎xolotl Roadkill,鈥� is up for a prestigious book award, and one of the jury members for the prize has said Hegemann鈥檚 methods don鈥檛 change his appraisal of its quality. 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 part of the concept of the book,鈥� he told The New York Times.

Hegemann seems to be taking a cue from the underground DJs she chronicles in 鈥淎xolotl Roadkill鈥� 鈥� who take pieces of various musicians鈥� songs and weave them together to create remixes or mash-ups that are, in turn, new pieces of art.聽

Such 鈥渢ransformative鈥� rethinking on existing works, some might argue, is even allowable in certain instances under US copyright law.聽

This is precisely the defense mounted by artist Shepard Fairey, who created that iconic Obama 鈥淗ope鈥� poster that is plastered across Millennial bedroom doors throughout the country. Is it any wonder that the young people who seized on that manipulated image, which many argue violated copyright law, have a similar outlook on their own works?

Hegemann is right that members of Gen Y, who鈥檝e grown up accustomed to 鈥渃rowd-sourced鈥� technology, or online tools like Wikipedia, which encourage members to collaborate and build on one another鈥檚 expertise to form a more substantive description of a person or event, are bound to have a more flexible outlook on 鈥渂orrowing鈥� and the meaning of originality.

Problems will inevitably erupt, however, if journalists begin to embrace Hegemann鈥檚 concept of what she calls 鈥渋ntertextuality鈥� without giving consideration to likely ramifications. Even given industry standards on plagiarism 鈥� The New York Times issued a stern rebuke of Mr. Kouwe, for example 鈥� Americans are generally wary of what they read in newspapers and online. If the news business were to even tentatively embrace taking other people鈥檚 words or ideas without proper attribution, the public鈥檚 trust would probably erode altogether.

I鈥檝e typically come to the defense of Gen Y, to which I belong, when baby boomers and others accuse us of neglecting personal relationships in favor of social networking, or of growing so reliant on technology that we鈥檙e unable to operate an actual telephone book or read a paper map. I even make my living doing all kinds of Millennial-y things like blogging and writing for online publications. But I also went to a solid journalism school that instilled me with plenty of old-old-school values, many of which I don鈥檛 think are forgiving when it comes to lifting another person鈥檚 writing or insights without also admitting where you got them.

In the absence of any bright-line rule regarding taking from online sources, however, I do think it鈥檚 appropriate for news establishments to continue weeding out writers who borrow too heavily from others without acknowledging the original material.聽

Mash-ups like 鈥溾�� are hilarious and valuable for entertainment purposes, but 鈥渞emixing the news鈥� can be a dangerous practice that will only drag down the quality and reputation of the journalism profession.聽

Sara Libby is a writer and editor in Los Angeles. She blogs at , where an earlier version of this essay first appeared.

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