JHoagland opened this issue on Jul 05, 2007 · 92 posts
gagnonrich posted Fri, 06 July 2007 at 1:30 PM
Instead of arguing what ought to be allowed and how things ought to work, below is information from the US government's copyright website. I'm not a copyright lawyer, but the definition I read of "Useful Articles" seems to exclude a military jet unless parts of that jet contains "pictorial, graphic, or sculptural authorship that can be identified separately from the utilitarian aspects of an object".
It may be worth the time to query the copyright office over Lockheed's actions because the general shape of a military jet is utilitarian in nature and not intrinsically artistic. It would be hard for Lockheed to claim that the specific shape of their jets are artistic in nature and not built that way strictly for the purpose of achieving technical objectives. If the copyright office replies with a favorable written interpretation, that letter could be forwarded to TurboSquid to fight these actions.
Copyright Registration for Works of the Visual Arts
www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40.html
Useful Articles
A “useful article” is an article having an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information. Examples are clothing, furniture, machinery, dinnerware, and lighting fixtures. An article that is normally part of a useful article may itself be a useful article, for example, an ornamental wheel cover on a vehicle.
Copyright does not protect the mechanical or utilitarian aspects of such works of craftsmanship. It may, however, protect any pictorial, graphic, or sculptural authorship that can be identified separately from the utilitarian aspects of an object. Thus, a useful article may have both copyrightable and uncopyrightable features. For example, a carving on the back of a chair or a floral relief design on silver flatware could be protected by copyright, but the design of the chair or flatware itself could not.
Some designs of useful articles may qualify for protection under the federal patent law. For further information, contact the Patent and Trademark Office at Commissioner of Patents & Trademarks, U S Patent & Trademark Office, P O Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 or via the Internet at www. uspto.gov. The telephone number is (800) 786-9199 and the tty number is (571) 272-9950. The automated information line is (571) 272-1000.
Copyright in a work that portrays a useful article extends only to the artistic expression of the author of the pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. It does not extend to the design of the article that is portrayed. For example, a drawing or photograph of an automobile or a dress design may be copyrighted, but that does not give the artist or photographer the exclusive right to make automobiles or dresses of the same design.
In a 1983 case, the "Copyright
Office had refused registration of a claim
to copyright in plaintiff's automobile wheel
cover design on the grounds that it was a useful
article which did not contain separable
sculptural features which could be considered
a copyrightable pictorial, graphic, or sculptural
work.
http://www.copyright.gov/reports/annual/archive/ar-1983.pdf
What Works Are Protected
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html
Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:
These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer programs and most “compilations” may be registered as “literary works”; maps and architectural plans may be registered as “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.”
My visual indexes of Poser
content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon