Forum: Poser - OFFICIAL


Subject: Tattoo Legallity Issues Solved

Ragtopjohnny opened this issue on Jun 14, 2012 · 157 posts


moriador posted Wed, 27 June 2012 at 2:54 PM

Quote - The Originall Creator would be Blocked to make the same Fix him self on he's own Product ... I assume !!!

No.  Someone please correct me if I am mistaken anywhere in the following.... Laws are not the same everywhere. I'm not an expert in US law.  But this is how I understand it:

The original creator could fix his product however he wanted as long as he didn't use the same exact fix (or parts of that fix) that someone else made.

You cannot copyright, or patent the IDEA of a fix, only its exact implementation or expresssion.  And that implementation or expression must involve some degree of creativity.

Two people are not going to arrive at an identical "fix" or morph or figure or texture independently (without one of them copying from the other) unless their creation is very simple.  As long as their creations are different and did not involve copying from each other, they are both perfectly free to create them, use them, or sell them.

For example, I make a red "texture set" for a dress by making the diffuse color red. Now no one can use this extremely simple method for making materials red? Of course not.  It's too simple. It's not a creation.  There must be something creative in what I do before I can copyright it.

I have this story about a pirate called Jack and his rivalry with another pirate who has an evil monkey and a magical compass.  I know, I'll copyright it!! I'll also copyright this clever concept I came up with for preventing injury when slicing bagels.  And finally, I'll copyright my name.  No one will be able to write a book or have a character in a movie called "Amber Fisher" because I'm going to take that name.

No. It does not work like that.

With a tangible working design drawn in paper or 3d that is detailed enough that someone could create a functional version of the item pictured, I might patent my bagel slicer. 

I might be able to trademark "Amber Fisher", though I'll be severely limited, and my trademark will probably only protect me against others who use that name in the same industry, in the same geographical area, for products or services that could be mistaken for my own. 

Finally, if I'm Disney, I might manage to trademark the special appearance of the pirate characters as they will appear in my movies, and I can copyright the movies and the movie scripts themselves, but in all likelihood the basic story will continue to belong to humanity.

ETA: So yes. The first person to come up with a reasonably complex solution gets to own it -- if they patent it.  It's how we reward crazy inventors when they create something good after years of making useless junk.  I could patent my bagel slicer.  But that wouldn't stop anyone from making a hundred different kinds of bagel slicers, just as long as none of them were THE SAME as mine.


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