I've been infringed!

[137th Gebirg]

Yep - and the CG guys working on NuBSG took the Defender design, originally created by Todd Boyce as a pencil drawing, and subsequently modeled by the Late Steve Wilson, showed up in the RTF on the show.

It was later confirmed by Lee Stringer of Zoic that it was put in there as an homage to the fan-made design and didn't intend for it to cause the shit-storm that ensued at the time.

But the moral of the story is that the Golden Rule = He who owns the Gold, makes the Rules and, at the end of the day, that I.P. is God.

For a trip to the past - look here for the 2006 conversation.

 

[backstept]

yeah after the initial indignation wore of I kinda said to myself, frak it . . .
people like my design, and enough people know its mine that I don't really care now what gets done with it . . . hell I've seen some pretty horrible MSPaint jobs done to it already . . .

 

[The Axeman]

I had a slightly different experience with models nicked from my website. I had a guy contact me who had seen the models on my site, and wanted me to make some simple tank models for a game he was making. There was money in it, so i started work. A little later a couple of mates contacted me to say they'd seen my free models up for sale on Turbosquid, and was it me? Hell no, not me. A little investigation showed that it was the dude who had then asked me to make more models, supposedly for a game. I couldn't believe the gall of the guy. Turbosquid nailed him immediately, he'd hoovered up free models all over and begun selling them as his own. Scumbag.

The only other instance was a guy called Capt Pellean on the SD.net boards. He dug up an old model of mine, altered it slightly and posted it up as his latest creation. As a board member i was amazed he tried to get my own model past me, and he tried to make out i was a liar and a nutcase. I posted up the evidence from years ago and he was clearly busted. He PM'd to apologise, and i told him to cram it and apologise in public instead. He vanished for a year or so.

 

[sojourner]

Then there was this guy who tried to pass off a slightly modified model from 3d warehouse as his own work.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=129037

 

[Solarbaby]

Then there was this guy who tried to pass off a slightly modified model from 3d warehouse as his own work.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=129037

They are 2 different models but similar. How does that thread prove he passed off someone else's work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Luna-Class-USS-Titan-Star-Trek-Explorer-Wood-Model-FS-/160427109682?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255a336d32#ht_1398wt_1139
This looks awful. I certainly wouldn't be buying anything from them

 

[sojourner]

^Look at the posted images in that thread again. all he did was use some stretching/scaling of the original model and put on a new bridge. It's very evident in the 3/4 view in the first shot you can see that the cut in windows on the upper hull are showing deformation from the stretch operation of the original model.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I think the issue at hand is that less-than-scrupulous people making profit off of other people's hard work and the unfortunate trappings of artistic license vs. intellectual property. What you're talking about is one fan building a design that looks somewhat similar to another fan design without any real monetary or I.P. damages going on. This isn't really at the same level, is it?

 

[sojourner]

Not at the same level monetarily. But you are missing the point on that thread. It's not a similar design. It's the same model that has been downloaded from 3d warehouse and tweeked a bit to pass off as his own work. I think it speaks volumes that it was his last post on the board with no attempt to refute.