We need our own copyright attorney.

[Stev0]

Claudio's Toyota F1 car could not be offered for free because they did not want their product distributed period.

[nebeltex]

Originally Posted by Stev0

Claudio's Toyota F1 car could not be offered for free because they did not want their product distributed period.

i'm going to offer only sci-fi models from now on..... my own sci-fi! ;-)

[dansls1]

Originally Posted by Stev0

Claudio's Toyota F1 car could not be offered for free because they did not want their product distributed period.

It was the Mclaren - they had commissioned the design and then pulled the plug on distribution after they ceased the commission.

[Art Deco]

Originally Posted by Mark Crowel

OK, let's all step back, take some time out, and get a cup of coffee (or perhaps a nice, cold, grain-based beverage).

All in favor?

Okay, I'm brewing up a nice cup of Italian coffee right now. It's a lovely, sunny day here in Shanghai (after a miserably long, chilly winter), and I'm off work. I'm going to go out on the balcony and savor my cup of coffee while thinking of all you folks here at PaperModelers who enhance my enjoyment of card modeling so much through your insights, opinions, comradery, and especially by sharing your wonderful works.

Cheers!

[markcrowel]

I have written information from the United States Copyright Office that makes at least one issue clear: the originator of a work does NOT have to register his work with the U.S. Copyright Office to have full legal protection of his copyright. It helps, as far as documenting the originator's claim, but copyright protection is legal and automatic starting when the work is published. All that is necessary is notice of copyright, i.e., Copyright ( or a circle around a "c") 2009 by Mark Crowel.

This should be an assurance to any of us who publish our own kits or designs.

[Golden Bear]

That's basically it Mark. It's on the bottom of my GBM model pages. Not good for much unless you want to try to enforce it but it does mark you legally as the owner of the material. You should also date it.


Carl

[mbauer]

While attending school in 2001, I was assigned a project to report on the Digital Millieum Copyright Act of 1998 Signed by Pres. Clinton. I received an "A" for the report. This is what I discovered:

The bill was signed by several nations, but not all.

It is the bill that stopped "reverse engineering". It protected the people who make music CDs from free dowloads as well. [This bill is the one that shut down technological advances in the computer industry because you could no longer reverse engineer and then improve existing technology-IMO (remember the computer technology crash of the early 2000s-stock market tech funds fell thru the floor?!)]

When a radio station plays a song they must pay a fee each time it airs. This why certain radio stations only have a certain song list, and since it is all computer programing they know exactly how many times it plays! They do this to keep costs down and to make sure they don't end up in litigation. Advertising is how they pay for the rights to play the songs.

What it did for us was to charge for copyrights. After 2-years you must pay $30 for each copyright.

Copyrights cover printed material. Patents cover inventions. Trademarks cover specific items (i.e.- Boeing trademarks cover names of the airplanes they design or have acquired thru buying out the competion)

Since Copyrights cover printed material, most copyrights for paper models would fall under "3D Paper Sculptures". If you're the original artist you can get a copyright on your drawing even if it is like someone else's. Just don't copy and change the other person's drawing-this can get you in serious trouble.

To protect myself I have every drawing of my models that I started back to 2002 when I first tried designing 3D sculptures. They show how I started the drawing thru the final "Paint" along with any changes to the original drawing. Since all of my models (3D Sculptures) are done using AutoCAD, they show exactly how they were done, what changes have been made and how many hours I spent doing them. My SR71 Habu model has over 2683-hours (111.8 24-hour days of drawing)! Yes, designing keeps me off the streets at night!!!

A car manufacture to protect his car design will get a trademark for that car name (i.e.-Gm builds a Corvette or Stingray).

You can draw and make paper models and sell them as long as you don't call it a corvette or stingray without changing the name by at least 10%.

The last I checked Trademarks cost $275 and have quite a few sheets of paper to fill out, plus they have certain requirements to be met. You will need an attorney to search for Trademarks just like patents.

One way to get around this MIGHT Be To use your company name at the start of the name of the model such as "Paper Model Corvette" instead of Chevy Corvette. I don't know how legal this is as I can't afford an attorney to check it out.

Maybe this would be a better use of an attorney. Get our own trademark that uses the "PaperModeler" name to protect us from the big guys.

It might be a one-time thing to verify that we can use the name "PaperModelers" instead of the manufactures name (i.e.- Chevy Corvette would become PaperModelers Corvette).

Of course to use the PaperModeler name you would need to be a member! The fee could be set up as a onetime intiation fee or each time the designer uses the name. This would allow any member to forgo Trademark checks, knowing that we are protected when we use it, because it changes the original name by the 10% requirement.

Trademarks really stop us from calling them what they represent, when we try to market (sell) the model.

Revell models tried to fight Boeing Trademarks over some of the models they make. I don't know the outcome of that litigation.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on anything I've written. I would be more than happy to retract the mistakes I've made by saying this!

I'm really close to marketing several models I've been designing since 2002. I don't want to end up in court!

Thank you for reading this, I hope it helps and is accurate!

Mike

[lee4752]

Originally Posted by mbauer

A car manufacture to protect his car design will get a trademark for that car name (i.e.-Gm builds a Corvette or Stingray).

Of course there was that little thing GM had a few years back over the Chevy Beretta. I believe the Beretta Firearms Company (it may have been the Beretta family) settled out of court and received a tidy little sum of around $500,000 plus a Beretta GT coupe for trademark infringement. Beretta donated the money the car to charity.

[mbauer]

Originally Posted by lee4752

Of course there was that little thing GM had a few years back over the Chevy Beretta. I believe the Beretta Firearms Company (it may have been the Beretta family) settled out of court and received a tidy little sum of around $500,000 plus a Beretta GT coupe for trademark infringement. Beretta donated the money the car to charity.

And Pepsi had a suit against someone that was using Pepsi as part of their name as well.

There are plenty of Corvettes out there. I've seen boats called that as well as Science fiction space ships...
Mike

[markcrowel]

Mike,

Thank you very much for the valuable information you provided. I thank you for your research, and for sharing it with us. It is the most valuable contribution to this thread, so far.

As for marketing paper models of cars, there are many replicas that I would love to do, but have hesitated often about marketing them, for fear of copyright issues. This is where your research and findings help me. If you've seen any of my "replicas" on the Gallery, you'll notice that they are artistic representations, rather than true replicas. They way I was planning to market them was this: for example, for the 1956 Studebaker, the advertising and labeling would read "1956 sedan. Resembles 1956 Studebaker". Each kit would also carry a disclaimer stating: "This model is an artistic interpretation of the real car's design, not an exact replica". Would I be legally safe in doing it this way?

As for copyright costs, the information packet I have from the U.S. Copyright Office from 2006, states that registering a copyright is not necessary for the originator to have full legal protection of his work, but registration does provide legal documentation of copyright. The fee at the time was $30, BUT, you can submit as much or as many works at a time for registration, all covered for that one $30 fee. So, if you have to renew registration in two years, you can submit your entire inventory at once, if I understand the rules correctly.