aRtBee posted at 9:18PM Mon, 31 August 2015 - #4225655

Just for curiosity: which section of the EULA allows us to make renders, display our renders, print our renders and even sell our renders?
And which section does limit this to 2D-rendering and printing, and forbid 3D (4D 5D etc) rendering and printing? ...
Perhaps I'm wrong, but then... prove me so by showing the relevant sections.

The EULA may change across versions. For instance, for PoserPro 2012, the version I have, here are some relevant statements:

(PS: Sorry for the lack of any decent formatting. Markdown sucks hard and it false-positive's itself all over the darn place, since it was never created for the purposes they're trying to use it on this forum. It's not my fault they switched to it. ...Quoted paras denoted by asterisk/indent or something... wherever possible. Sorry.)

(Scroll down for "TLDR" section.)

Applicable Definitions:

• • “Legitimate Uses” means (a) creating morph targets based on the Restricted Content, provided that any distribution of the morph targets will not include the original mesh connectivity information (for example, distribution in the form of data utilized with morph moving utilities or in a .CR2 file that references the original geometry, but no inclusion of the complete mesh); (b) creating texture templates derived from the Restricted Content to create new maps for either Restricted Content or Other Content; (c) creating tutorials, books, or other educational materials using images of the Program interface or Content for sale, distribution, public display, or public performance, provided such materials are intended to educate users as to use of the Program; (d) creating original Content for sale, distribution, public display, or public performance; (e) creating materials (e.g., shader trees) for use with either Restricted Content or Other Content; (f) creating characters or props based on Restricted Content in Proprietary File Formats, where the original (or modified) geometry, texture, or other Restricted Content files are not distributed with such characters or props; or (g) creating PoserPython scripts.
• • “Restricted Content” means all Content included with or part of the Program that is not Unrestricted Content, including without limitation mesh objects (geometry) in any format, files in Proprietary File Formats, images, materials, texture, transparency maps, Documentation, and Company’s proprietary data.

• -“Unrestricted Content” means Content included with or part of the Program that is specifically identified in the Documentation or listed in this EULA as Unrestricted Content. The following figure geometries and their associated textures are Unrestricted Content: low res male, low res female, medium res male, medium res female.

(Note: The "low"/"med" res" figures are "Unrestricted.")

....

Content License

*Subject to the terms and conditions of this EULA and your payment of the license fee, Company grants you a limited, personal, nontransferable and nonexclusive license (without the right to sublicense):
*a. To reproduce, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, publicly display, and publicly perform the Unrestricted Content for any lawful purpose other than to create a product which is intended to compete with the Program or to create new content which is intended to compete with the Restricted Content.
*b. To prepare derivative works based upon the Restricted Content solely for Legitimate Uses and lawful uses.
*c. To reproduce, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, publicly display, and publicly perform content you create using Restricted Content, provided that such use of Restricted Content shall be solely Legitimate Uses and lawful uses.
*Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing shall limit the Company’s right to independently create, develop, own, market, distribute, license, sublicense, import, export, sell, or otherwise exploit any content or materials similar to any derivative works based upon the Content.
You will use the Other Content in accordance with all applicable license terms imposed by the content's original creator.
You will not use, copy, modify, derive, distribute, transfer or sublicense the Restricted Content, the Unrestricted Content, or the Other Content or any copy, modification, derivation, or portion thereof, in whole or in part via any means or for any purpose whatsoever except as expressly permitted in this EULA or the Documentation.

Of Special Note: "You will not use, copy, modify, derive, distribute, transfer or sublicense the Restricted Content, the Unrestricted Content, or the Other Content or any copy, modification, derivation, or portion thereof, in whole or in part via any means or for any purpose whatsoever except as expressly permitted in this EULA or the Documentation. "

Now, back to "Legitimate Use:" -

• " a) ..creating morph targets..b) ...creating texture templates derived from ... (c) creating tutorials, books, or other educational materials using images...(d) creating original Content for sale (Edit Note: Note that this refers to using the Program, itself, to create content, not using its assets externally. In other words, this is in keeping with the program's "intended use.") (e) ..creating materials ... (f) creating characters or props based on Restricted Content in Proprietary File Formats, where the original (or modified) geometry, texture, or other Restricted Content files are not distributed with such characters or props; or .... (Note: Note hte use of "proprietary formats" only.) (g) creating PoserPython scripts...

The "Legitimate Use" section is based on the "intended use" of the program. See here, in the Program License:

• "...You will not use, copy, modify, derive, or transfer the Program or Documentation, or any copy, modification, derivation, or merged portion thereof, in whole or in part via any means or for any purpose whatsoever except as expressly permitted in this EULA or the Documentation. You will not relicense, sublicense, rent, lease, or lend the Program for third-party training, commercial time-sharing or service bureau use. You will not, and will not permit any third party to, reverse engineer, decompile, debug, disassemble, circumvent the security features of, or interfere with the normal functionality and operation of the Program for any reason whatsoever without the express prior written consent of the Company or except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law. If the Program is an upgrade to a previous version of the Program, you must possess and maintain a valid license to such previous version in order to use the upgrade..."

Of special note:

• "You will not use, copy, modify, derive, or transfer the Program or Documentation, or any copy, modification, derivation, or merged portion thereof, in whole or in part via any means or for any purpose whatsoever except as expressly permitted in this EULA or the Documentation."

So, if it isn't specifically covered in the EULA, we must also consider the "Documentation" as a guiding document and the documentation includes "how to use Poser", which outlines its intended use.

There are no 3D Printing uses covered in the "Documentation" for Poser.

A Note on "Art" and copyright: The exact mesh "shape" of Poser figures or, theoretically, any other created 3D object, is covered under copyright law. It's the same as trying to copy a Mickey Mouse graphic and then "directly" using it in an unlicensed product - You can not do that. (And, Disney has Trademarked everything... So, it's scary even mentioning them in a sentence, let alone trying to paint Mickey stomping on kittens or something...)

• " Right to Prepare Derivative Works

• Only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to pre pare, or to authorize someone else to create, an adaptation of that work. The owner of a copyright is generally the author or someone who has obtained the exclusive rights from the author. In any case where a copyrighted work is used without the permission of the copyright owner, copyright protection will not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully. The unauthorized adaption of a work may constitute copyright infringement."
  See here: http://copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf

So, what we have here is a failure to communicate... :)

In other words, there are no 3D-Printing instructions in the Documentation, nor provided use for such, and there are no allowances for the creation of or, especially, the sale of 3D-Printed products in the EULA. In Copyright law, a "derivative" of a 3D art object must be licensed by the original creator. And, since a mesh's topology, how it is connected together and the relative distances of its constructed vertices is an "original work", specific allowances for distribution or sale must be made for "derivatives." We can see that Poser's EULA gives us specific "legitimate uses" for the program and accompanying assets that specifically cover "morphs", but only within proprietary format types. So, for instance, I could not sell a wavefront object model of V4's mesh that I had "derived" a new shape for, since I am specifically NOT allowed to do that with non-proprietary file formats. (There are many other clauses that deal with the distribution of the original mesh, however. So, that copyright protection is specifically covered on multiple fronts. I just used this as an example.)

We have a failure to communicate based upon the growing use of 3D-Printing and the lack of updated EULAs to cover that technology. Distributors, like Renderosity, have included 3D-Printing rules in their EULAs. But, it's a "gray area" whether or not they have legal license to do so for "derivative works" based on the geometry of meshes that are owned by, for instance, Smith Micro. So, for instance, if I bought a V4 Morph and then sought to reproduce it using a 3D printer, I might NOT be protected by Renderosity's license, since they may not have the right to extend a license for derivative works from Smith Micro products...

TLDR: There ain't no specific mention of 3D-Printing in the EULA or Documentation nor is it a function of the program, itself. Copyright Law clearly covers "derivative works" and only the copyright holder can license "derivative works." Nobody should be seeking to distribute any electronic 3D information in any form to a third-party nor should they be attempting to reproduce and sell "derivative" works without the express, and possibly specific (ie: Get a letter directly from the holder which gives a personal and non-transferable limited license) permission of the copyright holder.

Any artist in any medium should be a staunch defender of Copyright Law. It's not "all about the money." It's about "what's Right" with a capital "R." Whenever there is a question about copyright or trademark, a true artist should go straight to the source and ask specific permission for the use of the licensed product. Always. It not only keeps one out of court, but it protects one's own work from misuse and abuse.

PS - See here for a similar discussion on copyright and derivatives in the Copyright and Ethics forum: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2888502

(Again, sorry for the formatting. Thank Renderosity for choosing "Markdown" instead of a rational formatting element.)