Attached Link: http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_9630368

Sounds more like a breech of contract than copyright infringement ?

I agree with sixus1 on this sounds like it is not a copyright issue but a breech of contract.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2743090

That's the most popular interpretation.

The reason they lost was because the model was an exact duplicate of a car trademarked by their client. there was nothing original in it so nothing Meshworks could claim a copyright on. They'd have won if they'd sued for breach of contract instead.

..reading the article... when I do architectural or engineering  visualizations of other people's designs - houses, products, subdivisions, topography and other 'point clouds' etc, I'm in the same boat, I don't actually own the designs or the meshes once I get paid for creating them. Which Is why I make sure I get paid well for forking over exclusive use of the meshes to my client.

The only right that I get to reserve is the use of the images and meshes I built for self promotion. In some cases the client does not have the right to redistribute, without my consent, or I don't have right to redistribute without the client's consent.

In most cases, if my client hired me to make a mesh, they are able to contract another outfit to do the renderings or revise the mesh. As long as I got paid for my part of the work.

I can't say that I read all the details of the case and articles. My first impression is that I'm a little surprized that Meshwerks is claiming copyright.  I have to read more about it.

On a side note:

a small Utah company used the relatively new technology of digital modeling

LOL new?

Quote - On a side note:

a small Utah company used the relatively new technology of digital modeling

LOL new?

Yeah, no kidding, I've only been modeling 3D things from various RL collected data for last 20 years... It's not exatly new technology in the realm of digital time frames.  Go figure.

The concept of taking point-by-point measurements and processing them
numerically has been around since the 1930's, often credited to GM's
visionary stylist Harley Earl.  Google "styling bridge" or see this:

http://www.carofthecentury.com/hybrid_engineering_made_gm_no__1_in_1930s.htm

Quote - The concept of taking point-by-point measurements and processing them
numerically has been around since the 1930's, often credited to GM's
visionary stylist Harley Earl.  Google "styling bridge" or see this:

http://www.carofthecentury.com/hybrid_engineering_made_gm_no__1_in_1930s.htm

Actually, it's been around a lot longer, it's calling surveying (Aside from engineering, it's my profession)  One can survey land or objects - ships, houses, and movable objects, with a number of data collecting methods, and varying degrees of precision. It's the core of what I do for work.

Surveying of land via data points is as old as tax collecting. Surveyors sometimes call it the 'second oldest proffesion in the world'. Definately tracks back to the times of old egyptian pharaohs, whom would tax their minions based on the area of the land they would own (or occupy).

One of the more popular methods as of late is 3D laser scanning.

I have an acquaintance who is into collecting various "real world" models, and he says there is no such thing as a digital model, that what we computer types call a digital model is, instead, simply a "a binary representation of a geometrical construct" ... whatever the [blank] that means ...

Hey. To each his own, I guess.

Quote - On a side note:
a small Utah company used the relatively new technology of digital modeling
LOL new?

It's probably a case of being poorly worded. The technology they used to "Copy" the car could have been new. Which of course lent itself to the arguement that they didn't create the models. They copied them.

Quote - The company covered each vehicle with a grid of tape, took measurements at each intersection point and then used the figures to generate a digital image resembling a wire-frame model. Features such as wheels, headlights, door handles and the Toyota emblem had to be re-created by hand.

Doesn't sound too new fangled to me considering they have lasers that will get that data quicker but hey. Maybe it's new tape?

donquixote -

I'm with your friend on that one

It looks like Meshworks did indeed sue for breech of contract (Toyota used the meshes in ways not allowed by their contract) but lost because of the copyright issue. Still, if someone like Toyota ever contracted me for this kind of work, I'd be walking into it knowing there would be no way in hell that I could ever "own" this work, and I would definitely charge accordingly. Much as I love Meshwork's stuff, this was just brain dead stupid on their part.

The judge made a good point that, at one point in time, a photo was considered uncopyrightable, and it's a matter of getting our laws up to date. IMHO, he wasnt so much dismissing Meshwork's case as he was saying that, under current copyright law, there wasnt much he could do.