My beads bring me happiness, and sometimes a little money. (Although in my case, it's a totally money losing hobby -- I give everything away) If someone "steals" my designs and calls them their own, I feel more sad than angry. Because the thief loses the joy of creation, of turning a few rocks and bits of glass and clay into something beautiful.
In this beady world, It's a rare occurrance that someone will steal designs for long without word getting out. The one doing the copying comes across as a pathetic loser. That's sad because there are so many techniques and types of beads that it's not really hard to make something from your own mind.
If you're lacking for inspiration, here are a few things that get me moving along:
Let the beads speak to you.
Invest in a beading board if you'd like and move the beads until the combination looks good to you.
Once you learn a new stitch, try to vary it in every way you can think of, using every type of bead you have.
Once you think you have the design, walk away for a bit, and see if you still like it later on.
How about turning the whole design upside down?
Or thinking of findings as embellishments?
See something on a tv star that inspires you, but you don't have the same beads and components, use what you have.
Look at vintage fashion magazines at the library (I like Vogue from the 40's and 50's myself). Bring a blank sketch pad and try to work out how you would make a similar design today, using materials you already have.
I see no reason to copy anyone else's work, when there are so many ways to make a piece of work your own.
BTW, it's polite and a Good Thing to give credit to your inspiration, even if your interpretation is unrecognizable from the original piece. That's just the decent thing to do.
Kathy N-V