[Woodcarver] copyright rules etc.

[Linehan718 at aol.com]

Yes I totally agree with Mush on this one.  My understanding of  copyright 
law is a financial protection for the originator of the design.   You can not 
copyright an idea such as a relief carving that features a barn,  horse and 
tree.  You may take pictures of your own barn, horse and tree and  arrange them to 
form a relief carving pattern.   However, as regards  to those who sell 
patterns, they are selling those patterns so that you can  use them.  There is also 
a "fair use clause" in copyright law which  enables anyone to use any 
copyrighted material in pursuit of an education  of any type.  I also can copy any 
carving and display it in the privacy of  my own home without any legal issues 
arising from it.  The copyright issue  rears its head only when I attempt to 
mass produce, or sell a carving that I  have used a copyrighted pattern or 
design to produce it.  The copyright  also comes into use when I attempt to display 
publicly an item made from someone  elses copyrighted design.  At the very 
least a mention should be given to  the copyright holder, but to be technically 
legal written permission should be  obtained from the copyright holder.
 
The Walt Disney Corporation is very vigilant about protecting its  copyrights 
and does send out agents to see who is infringing the  copyrights.  This 
includes craft makers.  Disney will have its lawyers  issue a "cease and desist" 
stop order immediately.  It will then  aggressively prosecute when they 
consider it to be in their best  interests.  But............and here's where the gray 
area in copyright law  comes in.......there has been at least one carver who 
has gotten away with  it.  I can't recall the particulars right now but there 
was a carver  who  carved gepetto and Pinocchio, who then displayed it 
publicly at some  type of craft fair for the purpose of selling it.  A Disney 
representative  was on hand and knew that the carving had sold for such and such a 
price and the  surprised carver was dragged into court.  While Disney was 
technically  correct, the judge issued a summery dismissal of the suit, ruling that 
the  selling of a one-of-a-kind carving did no financial damage to Disney or 
that the  financial damage was negligible.  But the judge also advised the  
artist that what he was doing was illegal and that if Disney had wished to  
pursue the case further that the man would not only be liable for what he sold  the 
carving for but for treble damages(triple) and court costs.
 
As a learning novice i would consider it fine to copy anything to learn  
skills.  At the point where you begin selling or publicly displaying your  
carvings you should be respecting other artists copyrights.  In my  first few years 
when I was ignorant of copyright law, I copied from Ivan, from  Joe D, from 
lora Irish and a few others but then I began asking proper  permission.  Most 
people are friendly and if you just ask, they grant  permission happily.  I have 
never been turned down and in fact some carvers  were so flattered that I 
would even want to copy their work that they asked that  I send finished pics 
and/or progress pics. 
 
 
Maura Carving in NYC
_www.carvinginnyc.com_ (http://www.carvinginnyc.com/) 
_http://mycarvingclub.com/mauramacaluso_ 
(http://mycarvingclub.com/mauramacaluso) 









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