Hey, even I'm getting tired of the Japanese getting hit for copying other's ideas.
Harley's centralization on V-Twins was simply their copying of aircraft radial engines, which were the most powerful air-cooled engines pre-WWII. so you could say that HD is a copycat too.
Almost all the luxury auto manufacturers are copying Mercedes and have been for years. Even some not-so-luxury cars. Remember Chryslers crappy K-cars? Complete Mercedes E-series styling ripoffs, complete with 5 pointed badges rather than 3 pointed badges.
Copycatting is a mainstay of any industry. Look at how many copycats have been made of successful movies? How many times are we going to see the plot of 'Diehard' or'Alien' rehashed? For that matter there is little that is fundamentally original since Shakespeare. A genius like Hitch***** comes along and then hundreds of shameless copycats film thousands of hours of schlock copycats.
Sure, the Japanese have taken a lot of flack for copycating and a lack of originality in the marketplace. Yet they have their own art and architecture that is unique and quite beautiful. Few things can beat a sand garden for beauty.
Maybe the Japanese should incorporate more of their own unigueness in their aesthetic designs, but as far as copycatting goes they're hardly worse than anyone else.