Quote - > Quote - I dont see how taking something in 2D (TV screen) and using it as reference for creating something in 3D can be considered copyright infringement. Its not like you hacked into ILM's server and stole the models or anything

Even where there's absolutely no question that you created something from scratch on your own, you may still run trouble if you make use of elements that are trademarked or use a trademark as part of the name.

Sorry, but this is really stretching it.

Yes, there are grey areas, like fashion design. In theory, a fashion design cannot be copyrighted or trademarked, not legally anyway. True, there are some companies that will claim it's part of a trademarked "look" and therefore their IP, but under the law as it stands right now, fashion is exempt from both copyright and trademark.

But at the same time, someone sat down, put ass in seat, and sweated through the creation of it. Does that give you the right to just say, "I dont care, I'm stealing it anyway"? Yeah, evil big corporations and all that... been there, done that. You're still ripping off the work of a fellow artist. There is a real person at the other end of that design. Not everything can just be dismissed as "faceless corporate America". Real human beings created that wizard robe or that shield design or that collar detailing. And you honestly feel you have some entitlement to just take that moment of creation away from them for the sake of a buck?

Sorry, but I have a real issue with that. As I wrote earlier in this thread, if you want to throw it in Freestuff and let others use it gratis for the creation of fan art, that's one thing. But the moment you start charging for it? When money changes hands, it becomes a whole different moral ballgame.

I'm asked to create every day in my role as an exhibit designer. Trust me, there are days when I want to just open up the latest issue of DDI and rip off a few ideas. But that's not what I was hired to do. And my work is no more protected under copyright than a fashion designer's, because what I design is considered "architecture", which is also a non-protected category. I've seen some of my stuff show up in other people's portfolios, and trust me: it cheeses me off. But there's nothing I can do about it except let them know I'm aware of their little theft. Sometimes they'll be gracious enough to pull it. Sometimes they wont -- and there's not much I can do about it. But again, it seriously cheeses me off when I see it happen.

So I can imagine how a costumer must feel when s/he looks around the web and sees her/his creations reborn without permission. That designer may not own the design, but someone still had to make it happen. And we should respect that.

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