Once again there are a lot of good questions being brought up in this thread. The main concern that I feel should be addressed is why, if the Amy body has been somewhat conformed to the P4 female did DAZ allow for it to be distributed? Lynn Grant addresses the answer to this question in post 22, above. As is typical in this business, DAZ reserves the right to provide specific exceptions to our own license agreement. (In fact, some of the first products we ever brokered were authorized this way, for example, Rob Whisenant's Merman, created from our Mermaid and MuscleMan products.) In the case with Amy, DAZ worked out terms of agreement with Imagination Works. I dont think that we need to elaborate publically on all of the considerations and conditions that went into our decision, but emphasize that it is our prerogative to do this. It all boiled down to our feeling that it was in the best interest to move things along.

We still retain the right to protect our interest in cases where Copyright or License Agreements are being infringed upon. Our license agreement still protects our products from being illegally distributed, whether in whole or in part, whether the products are in original form or in derivative form, no matter how many generations of derivation a person may take it.

Ultimately, creating a good human figure is a tremendous amount of work. DAZ has literally invested over a man-years time in modeling alone for Victoria and her associated morph targets. (Not to mention the costs associated with obtaining real life reference materials.) Chris Creek, DAZ partner and a modeller with over 10 years modelling experience, built Victoria from scratch this way because he knows that there are no legal shortcuts to this process.

To further clarify what derivative models are prohibited by the DAZ license agreement, I posted a message yesterday that addressed this issue. For those of you who havent had the opportunity to read it I have included it below. I appreciate your concerns, and expect this will answer your questions. If you have any questions regarding copyright on specific products, please contact DAZ directly, as it doesnt make sense to do this publically.

Thanks,
-Dan

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Hello again. I mentioned in my last message that we would be adding more information to the DAZ website's FAQ section in order to clarify further what is prohibited under the DAZ license agreement. Hopefully this will help. If this does not clarify things completely then please feel free to contact us.

A few quick points that I would like to emphasize: When people use products to create derivatives that then compete against the originals, there is a problem. We welcome the development of products that enhance or diversify our products without circumventing the need to purchase those original products. (For example, we have traditionally allowed the free distribution of .cr2 files for products that won't be devalued by this distribution.) The problems arise when someone uses our work as an unfair advantage to compete with us. As a result we have prohibited these types of actions in the DAZ License Agreement.

Although the DAZ License Agreement only protects DAZ sold products, we suggest that these principles should be applied to everyones products, wherever they are available. If these priciples are not followed then the entire market will suffer. Original creators are penalized, while those selling self-standing derivative works are rewarded. Eventually this creates a disincentive to make original works from scratch. This forces the inovators and developers to look for alternative markets.

Once again, we wish to thank all those who have supported DAZ and the other organizations and individuals in this great community. This symbiosis would not exist without you.

Sincerley,
Dan Farr

P.S. In some cases we make special agreements with artists outside of these guidelines.