Re: [OT]Look alike figures and copyright

On Mon, 2 Jul 2001 17:09:18 +0100 (), Jeremey Claridge
<jeremy.claridge@kcl.ac.uk> wrote:

>There must be some law allowing you to have something that looks like
>the original but where you have personally made it from scratch.

No, there isn't. Or rather, it depends on how close you are. If you're
close
but not exact, you're probably safe. Safe from losing, that is. Not safe
from
having to defend yourself in a lawsuit. 

>A bit like Jon with any rules he has written. You cannot put up the
rules
>straight out of the book but you can put up your own house rules based
>on that system. 

Written work is different. Intellectual property rights where written
work is
concerned has been hashed out very clearly. It's a lot easier to see if
something is exact, close, or different. Other art forms are not so cut
and
dried.

And then there's trademark law, but we won't get into that...

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

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan, 
   "Jack B. Quick, Boy Inventor"