Matt Carlton Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Quick question. In general, in the UK, copyright for written works etc is around 70 years: Copyright Length (.gov.uk website) Is there, does anyone know, a statutory length of copyright on published rc model designs, and who owns that copyright? For example, if a designer sells a design to a magazine to be a "free plan", does the copyright then belong to the designer or the publisher? The reason I ask is that I have often thought it would be nice to kit some of the older, "free plans" from the mags. Not that I am in any position to do so. But in the spirit of idle curiosity, I just wondered how such things are treated from a legal perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Olson - Model Technics Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Outerzone seem to have lots of old plans - I doubt if anyone has the get up and go to chase down copyrights on models Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Walby Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 I guess it depends if you copy a design for personal use or commercial use and profit. I can't seriously see how you would make any substantial amount of money from copying a design. However if you did make lots of money then the copyright owner could start legal action or settle out of court! IIRC the best contract was the inventor of the Workmate who received a poultry payment for each one sold from Black & Decker, however they had to protect (at their cost) his patent ..globally! I think they used to keep a rouges gallery of all the unofficial copies/rip off's as well as their different designs over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 6 minutes ago, Chris Walby said: IIRC the best contract was the inventor of the Workmate who received a poultry payment for each one sold from Black & Decker, however they had to protect (at their cost) his patent ..globally! I think they used to keep a rouges gallery of all the unofficial copies/rip off's as well as their different designs over the years. I supppose the payment would have been in the form of Rhode Island Reds 😄 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 46 minutes ago, Chris Walby said: who received a poultry payment for each one Another spellchecker victim? Is that where the expression chickenfeed came from? 😜 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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