Intellectual property

[woodrat]

Just a question for the sea-lawyers out there. If an individual uses a copyrighted book of plans e.eg Anatomy of the ship, and from them constructs a 3D CAD virtual model AND uses this to produce a kit for sale. Does the author of the original book of plans have rights and is the kit producer in breach of IP.

Just askin' because there are people using this site who are doing this for profit

Dick

[Chuck]

In that instance no.  There are no model builder plans in those books.  They are reference books.  Any plans or parts produced from them are not 100% traced.

 

However if someone were to copy and trace the plans in say an Ancre book from the model plans already produced by them.....100% ....and used them to develop parts for a kit that would be bad unless they had permission to do so.  Part for part....every futtock and floor timber laid out by Ancre is traced where you can lay it on top of the original and its a perfect match. you cant do this with an AOS ship book because they arent model builder plans.  

 

AOS books have no model parts drawn out.  They have no bulkheads to trace.  They are used for reference so folks can design their own parts templates from the info provided.  Its very different than tracing those parts from a set of model plans that someone else has already used similar research to develop every individual part.  

 

chuck

[woodrat]

Thanks, Chuck. Very clear

Dick

[CDR_Ret]

This document from copyright.gov may provide guidance.

 

I'm not a lawyer, but creating a detailed lines plan for sale from general lines plans in a published reference may not be considered a derivative work exempt from getting permission.

 

Terry

[modeller_masa]

In case of special contract such as license between a book writer and an owner of a ship, it can be a problem indirectly. It is common when it is a commercial building by famous architecturer. In the US, werk der baukunst was established in 1990. Also, license between model kit maker and original maker is very common like gun and car models. However, they are 18~19th century ships. You don't need to get any permission from Queen Victoria.