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<DIV>Prior to 1978 a copyright was not so easily implied, so it was necessary to
register your copyright to insure protection. Prior to 1978 I was selling a
series of colonial plaques, every year adding one or two more to the series. I
knew that there was a religious group (not mentioning the name)
that would purchase my new designs to reproduce them. After several
years they showed me that they had the copyright on my
designs and ordered me to stop making them. I was able to quickly show
them that my copyright predated there's and that they were infringing on my
copyright. They quickly stopped reproducing my designs. If I had not registered
or had proof of date of origin they could have forced me to stop making my
own design.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Byron makes a good point about documenting when you created your design.
One method suggested by my attorney is to print a letter with pictures of your
design and have it notarized. Keeping copies of these letters handy can quickly
settle any issue without getting into a legal battle.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Marcia, thanks for including the facts. One point not covered is that I
believe the heirs can renew the copyright indefinitely. So one can never
assume that the copyright has run out like a patent runs out.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Joe Dillett<BR>The Carving Shop<BR>645 E. LaSalle St. Suite
3<BR>Somonauk, IL. 60552</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(815) 498-9290 phone<BR>(815) 498-9249 fax<BR><A
href="http://www.thecarvingshop.net">http://www.thecarvingshop.net</A> [business
web site]<BR><A
href="http://www.carvingmagazine.com">http://www.carvingmagazine.com</A> ['Ask
Joe' column]<BR><A
href="http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett">http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett</A><BR>******************************************************************</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=whitwood@fairpoint.net href="mailto:whitwood@fairpoint.net">Marcia
Berkall</A> </DIV><BR><BR>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>1. A concept or idea is not copyrightable. "Copyright protects
'original works of authorship' that are <U>fixed in a tangible form of
expression.</U> " <I>(Ref: <A
href="http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci"
eudora="autourl">http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci</A>
) <BR><BR></I>2. "A work that was created (fixed in tangible form
for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected
from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for
the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death.
" <I>(Ref: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hlc )<BR><BR></I>3
For items created prior to January 1, 1978, copyrights, through a series of
legislations, were extended to last for a total of 95 years.
<BR><BR>SO......the concept of Santa is not copyrightable...specific designs
of Santa are. I have never seen a Santa playing an African drum, or a
violin, riding on a goose, carrying an elephant or dried flowers in a
basket, or tangled in lights. They were not taken or in any way
based on anyone else's designs..the Santas I carve are my own designs,
totally. There is a difference between using the "idea" or "concept" of
Santa and copying a specific Santa design. According to copyright law,
then, I cannot stop anyone from carving a Santa playing an African
Drum....that is just an idea. However, I can take issue with someone
copying my design for a Santa playing an African Drum.<BR>If you really want
to push the matter, you could say that every Santa that anyone carves, draws
or in any way depicts, wearing a fur-trimmed red suit is based on the Thomas
Nast rendition which has become a commonly accepted "concept" of Santa.
However, since Thomas Nast died around 1902, then any copyrights attached to
his renditions of Santa have expired. <BR><BR>The issue with copyright
is a financial one, basically. The problem is with making financial gain from
someone else's design...or selling it or derivatives of it. I spend many
hours, often months or even years pondering a design, sketching it,
resketching it and working up final patterns. Is it fair for someone
else to use that design for their own benefit? That is what copyright
law is intended to protect.<BR><BR>Marcia (aka Mush)<BR><BR>
<DL>
<DL>
<DD>At 12:05 AM 6/20/2008, Byron wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">
<DD>All laws are subject to interpretation by the courts. That's
the way our constitution is written. So no matter how any
individual interprets the statutes the courts have the final say.
We pay lawyers to search court records to attempt to determine how an
individual case is likely to be interpreted. In every case
some lawyers are right and some are wrong.
<DD>
<DD>Now what do you do about it? How do you deal with possible
copyright infringement, that's up to each individual to
decide. As for me, I do my own design with computer copies
of the my sketches so I have some proof that I created the design.
I also avoid something looking like well known icons. From
that point on I take my chances. I think that's what most of
us do.
<DD>
<DD>I wouldn't take a pattern from any publication or rough out, carve
it and attempt to sell that carving for several reasons. The
biggest one is that somebody else is already doing that.
<DD>
<DD>As far as your works go, you didn't invent the characteristics that
make your carvings a Santa. Therefore those characteristics were
copied from someplace, originally from somebody that had either a
registered copyright or an implied copyright. That's why I
say from looking at carvings at shows, in publications, and the internet
almost all are copied from someplace.
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>
<DD>Byron Kinnaman
<DD><A
href="mailto:abkinnaman@earthlink.net">abkinnaman@earthlink.net</A>
<DD><A href="http://byronscabin.kinnamans.net/"
eudora="autourl">http://byronscabin.kinnamans.net/</A>
<DD> </DD></BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP></P></DD></DL></DL><FONT color=#800080 size=2>See Marcia's wood
carvings
at:
<BR><A href="http://whittlinsnwood.com/"
eudora="autourl">http://whittlinsnwood.com<BR></A>*****<BR>Affordable Web Page
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<P>
<HR>
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