Re: [figures] Interesting development

On Sat, 30 Sep 2000 13:34:23 EDT, Glenn m wilson <triphibious@juno.com>
wrote:

>Haven't read the article yet (no browser at home) but it seems pretty
>straight forward as to your question.	If it's a copy of a copyrighted
>artifact you would, ISTM, have infringed on that copyright.  Now
creating
>something similar after being inspired by another mini; I don't know
>where the line is...

There's another thing that I'm not sure has been fully identified: is it
copyright infringement to copy a miniature of a real life vehicle?

This would be a very hazy area, legally speaking. If you were to use
this
technology to recreate an FSE cruiser, for instance, that's copyright
infringement. If you were to use it to recreate an M1A1 Abrams? That's
going
to be hard to fight. If the miniature is an exact replica of a tank it's
going
to be hard to prove that you didn't create an exact replica of the tank,
instead of a knock off of someone else's miniature. 

Now, is it legal to copy a real life vehicle? There was some question
about
this, but I believe it has been pretty much settled. One of the computer
sim
companies that created an F22 Raptor sim tried to prevent everyone else
from
releasing an F22 sim. They claimed other F22 sims were copyright
infringement,
and they claimed they had a license from the aircraft's manufacturer
(McDonnell Douglas?). In the end, their attempts to stop the other sims
was
essentially quashed. The US Air Force stated that the aircraft was built
for
the United States, therefore it was owned by the people of the United
States
and its representation was, by definition, in the public domain.

So, this technology is probably less of a problem for GZG than GHQ, but
it's
still going to have an effect. We're entering into an era where the very
concept of intellectual property rights is being assailed and redefined.
We're
also entering into an era of unprecedented ease of manufacturing. Yes,
this
technology will make it easier to rip off manufacturers. But this
technology
could also reduce production costs, particularly of "one offs" or custom
creations.

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things