I understand castings cost a lot, but why drawings?

[Bill Shields]

Legally...nothing pre ents anyone from selling anything on flea bay as long as it is an original. I can purchase a Chevrolet for $30,000 and sell it for $10 and no laws have been broken...ad long as I did not make a copy of the Chevy and aell it as a GM original.

The same goes for that Raritan disc. As long as it was legally purchased and is no a copy...no law prevents anyone from giving it away.

The same follows for paper drawings..as long as they are not copied.. the legal owner can do whatever he wants with them. Losing money is not a crime.

Which is why I do not distribute electronic copies of any of my work.

[FKreider]

Legally...nothing pre ents anyone from selling anything on flea bay as long as it is an original. I can purchase a Chevrolet for $30,000 and sell it for $10 and no laws have been broken...ad long as I did not make a copy of the Chevy and aell it as a GM original.

The same goes for that Raritan disc. As long as it was legally purchased and is no a copy...no law prevents anyone from giving it away.

Yes but Joe has stated here on Chaski that electronic plans are not available for the Raritan. Which means that CD IS a copy that someone produced by copying the paper plans book. That is no different than copying any other book and attempting to sell them yourself, its breaking copyright law.

[Mike Walsh]

Not to play devils advocate here, but the description of the ebay listing indicates that the CD has copies of live steam magazine articles... Not scans from Mr. Tanksi's book.

If the drawings in the article are the same as that in the book, then that creates a whole different mindset as I'm under the impression that whenever LS mag publishes, the content becomes LS mag's and cannot be profited off by the author. I could be very wrong here, as I have not published through LS mag (yet)...

[Bill Shields]

actually...(as a paid author for LS)....once the series is finished, LS has no claim on them. the author can do as he wishes with the material.

copies of the actual magazine are another matter...

[Mike Walsh]

actually...(as a paid author for LS)....once the series is finished, LS has no claim on them. the author can do as he wishes with the material.

copies of the actual magazine are another matter...

Thanks for the clarification. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

[milwiron]

I was in contact with the gentleman on eBay quite a few months ago with a couple of questions about his cd's. He told me at that time he had permission to reproduce the articles he was selling. He didn't have permission for a Modeltec article I had asked about and couldn't supply it. Maybe he was being level with me, I honestly don't know. Perhaps he pays a royalty on what he sells???

[Greg_Lewis]

I was hoping this thread would not devolve into a conversation about copyright; we’ve had these discussions here before. But as a former professor in a journalism department who has taught copyright as part of my classes, I must step in and correct some common misconceptions. This is not the place for a complete dissertation on copyright so the below is limited to the current issues.

The Table of Contents page of Live Steam states its copyright policy: “The contents of this publication are copyright ©2020 by Village Press, Inc. and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright owner. Drawings may be copied for use in personal construction projects, but may not be distributed to others.”

This is very plain. Village Press owns the material it publishes. Authors can, and I have, make separate arrangements. It is not uncommon for freelance journalists to sell “one-time rights” to their work, meaning the publication can publish it once, additional uses requiring an additional fee. The author retains all other rights and can sell the work elsewhere. Publications can also buy “all rights” which means they own it entirely and can do with it what they wish. In such a case, the author or creator cannot sell or distribute the material any more without permission as he or she has sold those rights.

In the case of Live Steam, it would then depend on the wording of the agreement between the magazine and the author. Considering the TofC page statement, absent an agreement to the contrary, L.S. owns the material.

Copyright also expires, the material then considered to be in the public domain. Some of the material sold by the vendor mentioned above looks like it would fall into that category. Copyright can also be renewed. Further, under current law, copyright is automatic, the creator does not have to register to protect his or her work.

Finally, if you buy a set of plans, you can sell those tangible plans, just the same as if you buy a book, you can sell that book when you are done with it. But you cannot copy those plans and distribute those copies — free or for money — without permission from the copyright owner.

Regardless, the ethical, and legal, thing to do is to respect the work people put into their creations and to ask for permission before reproducing it for others.

[Greg_Lewis]

By the way, if you want more info about copyright, here is a link to a pdf titled "Copyright Basics" from the U.S. copyright office;
https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf

[Kimball McGinley]

I just reviewed my saved copy of the LSOR "Author's Guide", it does clarify that they only own the article in the form in which it was published. This means the layout, typeform, any drawings they made, edits they made, etc. After publication, the author still owns his article "as originally written" and can do whatever he wants with it.

[Greg_Lewis]

Thanks for the clarification, Kimball.

[Bill Shields]

actually...(as a paid author for LS)....once the series is finished, LS has no claim on them. the author can do as he wishes with the material.

copies of the actual magazine are another matter...

As I thought I said...giggle...

[Johnny O]

Getting back to O.P. Topic in regards to drawing cost’s. Anyone who generates drawings on cad programs usually carries an annual license fee and maybe support fees too. Pencil/paper is cheap but takes way longer with mistake corrections, redesign, spilled coffee.....: )