Copyright Laws

[maxi]

Por favor alguien traduzca esto.

Tengo la siguiente duda. Soy modelista y estoy diseñando maquetas de papel de las naves de Macross, con el proposito de venderlas.Mi duda es si voy a tener problema con las leyes de copyright, por usar los diseños de esa serie. Los derechos de autor de Macross son solo sobre el nombre, o tambien sobre sus diseños?? Me imagino que no ya que muchos de los miembros del foro venden los modelos de resina que hacen. Espero que alguien pueda aclarar mi duda. Gracias.

[azrael]

Vas a vender los modelos?

[big F]

A quick Babel fish translation for those who's Spanish is as rusty as mine. Please note there are some obvious errors but you'll get the idea.

Please somebody translates this. I have the following doubt. I am modelista and I am designing scale models of paper of the ships of Macross, with the proposito of venderlas.Mi doubt is if I am going to have problem with the laws of copyright, to use the designs of that series. The rights of author of Macross are single on the name, or also on its designs? I imagine not only that that many of the members of the forum sell the resin models that do. I hope that somebody can clarify my doubt. Thanks.

[VFTF1]

The copy right laws apply to the designs, and "likeness thereof" as far as I know.

That means they can accuse you of copy right violation if you make something that is explicitly Macross, or even if you make something that looks close enough to Macross even if you call it -say - Super Robo Warrior Typhoon!...

However - I think it all ultimately depends on the scale of your operation.

No one in their right minds would prosecute a garage modeller making a dozen or so things and selling them - particularly if what's being made is a great design of something that no major company is designing.

As long as you are not claiming on your "package" or in your "advertising" that YOU designed them and that YOU came up with Macross as a story and concept - then you should be ok.

If you are starting a production line company and planning on mass marketing these - then you have a copyright infringement problem (potentially - if the owner decides to act)

Finally - if you are selling them "not for profit" - aka you sell them at cost - then you are not infringing - as far as I can tell - since the violation is only on profting from a copyright that isn't yours...

For instance- if I write a Fanfiction called "Macross: Hikaru and Misa - the Fate of our Heroes" and publish it on the internet - I am not infringing on copyright as long as I don't charge people 30 bucks a pop to read it

If I publish a fanzine called "Macross" and charge - say - 2 dollars pop because that is the price of paper, printing and mailing - that is legit too (it would be a violation if I also charged for my services as a writer for the fanzine).

Now - the interesting thing is that you could potentially buy the fanzine "at cost" - and if it were popular - you could sell it on ebay at profit.

Same with models.

This is not an abstract case - since recently on ebay TMUK fanzines were up for auction and going for clearly more than they were bought for.

Someone on another board made the suggestion that an easy way to "get around" the copyright laws then was to build/make something - sell it "at cost" for "no profit" ...to a friend...who then sold it for profit - and he has every right to do it since it's his property (Yamato doesn't lease out Valks, after all - we own the ones we bought and in theory we can sell them for a million bucks if we find a buyer at that price)...

Anyways - this would likely fall under conspiracy charges - aka getting around the law on a technicality by conspiring to make things look legit with other parties.

But the likelihood that someone would go after you when the turnover on this type of operation is under 100 bucks is very small - the costs of prosecuting would far outweigh any potential benefits - and the entire action could stifle fan-initiative which in the long run provides LOADS of free advertising for the companies with the copy rights...

So it's probabkly in the interest of most of these corporations to ignore copyright violations on a small scale - because they benefit from the material getting free advertising - and can step in any time they want to make a legit version of the product.

In short: model away and worry not I think

VFTF1

[maxi]

thanks for your opinion VFTF1. I think I´ll not have problems because I not planning to do this in large scale. just a few to make some money, not big deal. I was thinking to charge the price of the paper, printing and my service as modeler. I believe it would be arround $10 or $15 for a model, so it will be more expensive for them to accuse me, than the benefit that they can get with that. Besides, as far as I know there are no "original" Macross paper models, so I believe I´ll have no problem. thanks again.

I´ll post pictures of the models when I finish them, so you can have an idea of what I´m doing.

See ya

[gwfalcon]

thanks for your opinion VFTF1. I think I´ll not have problems because I not planning to do this in large scale. just a few to make some money, not big deal. I was thinking to charge the price of the paper, printing and my service as modeler. I believe it would be arround $10 or $15 for a model, so it will be more expensive for them to accuse me, than the benefit that they can get with that. Besides, as far as I know there are no "original" Macross paper models, so I believe I´ll have no problem. thanks again.

I´ll post pictures of the models when I finish them, so you can have an idea of what I´m doing.

See ya

Dude:

Really interested in your product? can show a pic here!?

[renkenjutsu]

I second that. Paper model valks sounds interesting More so if there's a YF-19

[Clay Cliff]

Por supuesto que suena interesante... ¿Qué hay de un VF-11?... Tal vez lo pueda usar para mi proyecto a 1/48 (como planos o plantillas me refiero)... Manténnos informados sobre tu proyecto. Buena suerte.

Of course it sound interesting... What about a VF-11?... Maybe I can use it for my 1/48 project (I mean as blueprints or templates). Keep us informed about your project. Good luck.

[maxi]

right now I´m finishing the DYRL SDF-1, Vf-1j Max Battroid, Rabbit Shuttle and a Vf-1j Hikaru gerwalk. The Yf-19 is on the list but I must get a good 3d model so I can unfold it into paper. do you now were to get one of those??it must be 3ds format.

I´ll post picture soon

Edited May 12, 2008 by maxi