IAFM copyright issues.

[amoscarmel]

Hi everyone.

I collected many models of the IAFM. I bought them during the 60's and 70's'. As they grew older and started getting yellow I photocopied them and when computers and colour printers came about I kept scanning but the quality deteriorated. An architect friend of mine had managed to "revive" and improve the colouring giving the old model new lease of life. A friend of mine saw them and asked if he can buy some of them. I asked him to wait till I've found out about the copyright situation concerning them. I try to contact the IAFM re the copyright issues but no one there seemed to shed any light on it. I tried to google search some of the artists but to no avail. So here is the conundrum, Most of these models were produced in the late 70's till the mid or late 90's. I am quite willing to give my friend scanned copies but is it legally wrong? morally wrong? or is giving them for free is ok. Please help.

[Sakrison]

If IAFM was a government publication, the kits might be in the public domain. Is there a copyright notice on the kits or indication in the magazines? What exactly did the IAFM people tell you?

[altbob]

Assuming IAFM was a corporation the copyright would last 75 years from the date of creation. But if it's out of business, those intellectual property assets may have passed into obscurity - you'd need to know whether the company was property dissolved, or if not, who owns the shares. If you make a good faith attempt to do this, and can't get anywhere, and distribute the copies with a public notice and disclaimer, you may have a pretty good defense if anyone complains down the line. Unfortunately there is no clear way to force the copyrights into the public domain, so you would always be assuming some risk.

[CMDRTED]

always better to ask forgiveness than permission, for future reference!

[John Bowden]

since most of the model they released were recolors of Wilhelmshaver models, you might run into that copyright roadblock also..........

[sfw]

i lake to share this wiet u by e mail

[Moshe]

On the bottom of the back cover of each model booklet, there is a copyright notice. It says (translated from Hebrew): All rights reserved to the publication unit of the department of defence (misrad habitachon).

You need to contact them.

[Phrog Phlyer]

I found in the US the Marine Corps owns the copyright to its emblem, but they grant free use of it in any form. As I recall, the warning is don't use it in a manner that upsets them or degrades the emblem. Then they will take issue. Not sure how this exactly applies, but it was interesting. I imagine that the IAF won't mind as long as you credit them and the magazine. Or, you could look at it the same way we look at unknown electrical wires. Cut them and someone will call and tell you about it...

[Richschindler]

I would think printing it and giving it to someone for free, or just the cost of the ink you used, would not be an issue.
But it you were to print it and sell it for any sort of profit, now that's where it may get dicey.
Just my thoughts!

[elliott]

We're overthinking this. Moshe gave us the answer a couple of posts back folks - even translated it for us. Next thing for us to do is wait for amoscarmel to contact them and let us know what their response is.