Image stolen

[BorgMan]

I regularly do a Google search for my Hayden class starship. It is my most successfull model, and it gets a lot of attention so I tend to be on the lookout for anyone who wants to use it. However, this is NOT the attention I want it to have:

eBay page offering a wooden model of my ship.

The point is, this is impossible. I have not given out the model to anyone, and the orthographic views of her are incomplete: I never got around to supplying the updated ortho's. So whatever you do, do NOT buy from this seller. It is impossible for him to have a real wooden model of it, and even if he has, he did not inform me about it. It is my intellectual property, and I WILL defend it. Anyone else had something similar?

 

[Plecostomus]

He also stole my technical description, that is a direct copy-paste of the technobabble I wrote for Borgman.

Didn't someone try to make a game-mod out of your model as well Borgman?


Anyway, what sort of rights does someone have in a situation like this?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Unless you copyrighted the design you have no rights, it's anybodys for the taking.

I'd mail the guy and tell them a lie that it's your design and it's copyrighted and unless they take down the item for sale you'll take them to court over it.

 

[Plecostomus]

Can you copyright a fan-work from Star Trek like that though? I mean Star Trek is owned by someone else, can you copyright derived works without permission or do you need a license or permission first?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Can you copyright a fan-work from Star Trek like that though? I mean Star Trek is owned by someone else, can you copyright derived works without permission or do you need a license or permission first?

I'm not entirely sure. To be honest like you point out it's all owned by someone else so you probably can't copyright it even though it's your own design. So in this kind of situation I think you're generally just screwed.

I wonder how many other designs this guy is ripping off.

Infact, is this phillipino breaking the law by selling models of Star Trek ships that aren't really Star Trek ships? because the designs are fan made, he's making money from fan made material that isn't actually Star Trek material but it's being claimed as such? if you catch my drift.

LOOK HERE, he's got lots of other models for sale many of which are fan made.

 

[Plecostomus]

Can you copyright a fan-work from Star Trek like that though? I mean Star Trek is owned by someone else, can you copyright derived works without permission or do you need a license or permission first?

I'm not entirely sure. To be honest like you point out it's all owned by someone else so you probably can't copyright it even though it's your own design. So in this kind of situation I think you're generally just screwed.

I wonder how many other designs this guy is ripping off.

Infact, is this phillipino breaking the law by selling models of Star Trek ships that aren't really Star Trek ships?

I think we need a legal expert to weigh in on this thread.

 

[Amaris]

He's apparently in the Phillipines, either way.

You could find out copyright and trademark law there and see if he's overstepping. You may not get your design credited to you, but you can get his shut down.

J.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Contact eBay and let them know what's up. They're usually pretty good when it comes to legal matters.

 

[BorgMan]

Well, a small update. I seems that my ship isn't the only one in there; there's like 10 ships which are all grabbed from JoAT and ASDB. Bernd, the admin, has already filed a complaint

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Dude's actually breaking the IP rights of three parties: Borgman, Pleco, and Paramount. Even if his government doesn't care, eBay should.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

My question is...does this guy *really* make models of these ships or is it just a scam? 'Cause if he does, they'd be really cool...if he had gone through the right channels to get designs/made his own.

 

[stoneroses]

If you refer to Star Trek directly in your plans my guess is you would have to go through Paramount and try and agree a licencing agreement. I think this would be a real pain in the ass to sort out on your own.
If your design was just a model space ship that happened to look a little like a Star Trek ship you would stand a chance to get it copyrighted.
Either way it will cost money. If you do a lot of this sort of stuff and want to make money out of it or at least don't want to be ripped off it might we worth signing up with an agent.
Good luck

 

[Plecostomus]

I fired off a letter to slEezeBay this morning we'll see how it goes!

 

[Guartho]

Unless you copyrighted the design you have no rights, it's anybodys for the taking.

I don't know how it works in the UK, but in the US you don't have to "copyright" something for it to be protected by copyright law.

What you're describing is more like trademark law. Some of the other posts actually refer to trademark issues and some to copyright issues.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Unless you copyrighted the design you have no rights, it's anybodys for the taking.

I don't know how it works in the UK, but in the US you don't have to "copyright" something for it to be protected by copyright law.

What you're describing is more like trademark law. Some of the other posts actually refer to trademark issues and some to copyright issues.

This is true, you automatically own your own work, unless/until you sell the rights to someone else.

What you do have to do, is be able to prove that it is your own work. In the old days, it was recommended for a simple, cheap proof, to mail a copy of your work to yourself, don't open it, it is you proof that you came up with it first, so anyone that claims to "invent" it at a later date is SOL. That is just an example. These days, you have digital work with date stamps on it, web pages, etc, you should have no problem proving you did it first.

If your work has "Star Trek" on it somewhere, then you are in a really grey area, and you were probably stepping on Paramount's trademark in the first place. But I don't see that from the photo on display. The registry number is "Trek-like" but that is not conclusive.

This is your design, and your name, Hayden Class, so there is no doubt the work is stolen.

You have to take some steps to protect your work, if you know it is being used and don't take steps then this is indication for anyone that the work may be open for free usage. This is why companies will go to great lengths to protect their trademarks, not because they hate some fan who puts up a website, but because they could lose their rights altogether if they don't protect them.

 

[Guartho]

Thanks for elaborating LaxScrutiny. I was afraid someone would ask me to when I pretty much posted all I know on the matter.

 

[cultcross]

Just to clarify, that does also apply in the UK, that you have to "copyright" something is an often-repeated fallacy, as soon as you create something you have the intellectual rights to it, and the right to use the © symbol to notify as such. ® and ™ denote an official registration of an intellectual creation, but 'copyright' is yours from creation. As LaxScrutiny says, you do need to be able to prove it - but this should be fairly doable if the dates are far enough apart. Think file creation dates, anything you might have printed off, anything you might have put online on a provable date, etc.

 

[Shawnster]

So, the dude is making money off of Star Trek? Sounds like he's breaking Paramount/CBS Copyrights regardless of whom he's stealing from on this (and other) board.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yup. I think if enough people complain to eBay about this the seller could get banned or at least put under some serious scrutiny. That is, assuming eBay gives a damn, which they easily might not.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Yup. I think if enough people complain to eBay about this the seller could get banned or at least put under some serious scrutiny. That is, assuming eBay gives a damn, which they easily might not.

That's right, blame it on LaxScrutiny.