[Woodcarver] Copyrights

[Charles Trella]

This has been a very interesting and enlightening discussion. Thanks for the question and all the wonderful responses. I have a feeling that there are a LOT of carvers out there like myself, who are not particularly "artistic" (or have themselves convinced that they're not because they can't draw well). So we tend to work from patterns of some sort. Some of those are patterns from magazine articles and some are from books.  
 
I have a feeling most of us rarely sell our work, but instead give it away as gifts. When we DO sell it may be an occasional one off.  In both of these instances I doubt anyone would object - even though we may be technically stepping over the line of the copyright law.  The reality is that the economic loss suffered by the original copyright holder is so negligible that it makes not sense for them to carry out a legal action - though they might ask you to desist.  Morally - if you didn't claim the design as your own I don't think you've done anything wrong.  Likewise, when a carver steps up to displaying their works (on a website) - as long as they give fair credit for the design and are simply showing it as an example of their "carving" skill or accomplishment - again, no harm no foul.  If they DID, however, try to imply or claim the design as their own - then morally (and legally) they are crossing the line. Even though the original copyright holder might not pursue them legally because the damages don't justify it. 
 
Now, when a carvers moves into the realm of selling carvings - especially multiples of a given design, you really ought to write the original copyright holder and get explicit permission to do so.  Both morally and legally - even though they STILL might not pursue you due to the legal cost involved. Heck - if you're below the radar and not advertising the work on the web, they very well might not even be aware of your activity. But morally - it's just the right thing to do, and legally - the safe thing to do. 
 
Now Larry raised an interesting point in his last email: "I dearly love to carve caricature animals and wood spirits in canes andwalking sticks. It is very difficult not to carve one which is extremely similar to ones that others have carved." 
 
Using the woodspirit example: yes, there have been SO many versions done, in many instances copies of copies of copies etc, that it can be very difficult to carve one without some serious similarities to the myriads of others.  However, as long as you DIDN'T take someone else's EXACT pattern and carve it following their STEP BY STEP instructions so as to be identical (or VERY close to it), I doubt you'd run afoul of copyrights. The woodspirit has become a pretty generic subject matter.  Even so - there ARE carvers out there who have developed a very recognizable "style" or look even for this common subject matter. I would point to Shawn Cipa as a prime example. Possibly Greg Wilkerson or Colin Partridge as other examples. 
 
To me, the best way to avoid this and to develop our own "voice" as a carver, would be to take photo's (with permission) of any individuals we come across with strong features that might make a good model for a spirit face. From that photo you can use a photo editing package or hand sketching to create your own unique "pattern" that you CAN claim as your own work and design. You can modify the expression or various details of that face to create your own variations (derivatives) from YOUR pattern rightly claim a copyright to that work. That's what I aspire to for my own work eventually. But for now, like most out there, I am learning from articles and other's examples on the web. So I wouldn't claim any as my own design, nor would I seek to produce them in quantities to sell unless I sought permission. 
 
That's my take on it anyway. 
ChuckT
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/woodcarver/attachments/20080620/812d260b/attachment.htm>