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<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
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