One can sue anyone at any time for anything. I presume what you're really asking is, can you sue and win? We need a lawyer to chime in here. There's a doctrine of "fair use" to consider, but beyond that there's simply the concept of free exchange of ideas -- do people own ideas?

Plagiarism, in a narrow legal sense, is mostly a matter of copyright violation. But again, I sense that your question is larger than that. Is it?

Perhaps you can cite a well-known example in order to make the discussion more concrete?

Not trying to downplay the legitimacy of your question at all. I think it needs to be discussed.