Forum: Poser - OFFICIAL


Subject: copyright infringment

d4500 opened this issue on Dec 03, 2002 ยท 24 posts


wadams9 posted Tue, 03 December 2002 at 2:33 PM

I think some people must be putting stuff in "no commercial use" under the impression they're saying "you can't resell this as-is for profit" or something, which makes sense but isn't what "no commercial use" means.

Why anyone would give out a freebie and say you can't use it in commercial renders is beyond me, EXCEPT for one case, which is when there is a copyright that the freebie maker doesn't own. As when someone makes a Batman-themed freebie. He can't charge for it without risking a lawsuit from the Batman people, and he "restricts" commercial use of any render just to remind people who use the freebie that they better respect the Batman copyright too.

Lots of people do like making renders of pop icons for their private enjoyment. (More often Wonder Woman than Batman, I imagine.)

Anyway, you can certainly sell your pre-packaged light-set and make a license restriction that no one who buys it from you can simply re-sell that as-is. In theory it's legally enforceable if you can show the customer bought the product from you and has made no changes to it at all when reselling it (not that anyone in RM has enough money at stake to pay lawyer's fees; but I like to think the rest of us would respect your rights, ask that the customer's knockoff not be sold here, etc.)

But even if you sell it (much less put it out there as a freebie), you can't restrict people from using Poser lights in any conformation they wish in a render.

However, consider this. In a lawsuit-happy society, you might want to place "restrictions" on your customer's renders (no obscenity or pornography, not as part of a threat against property, blah blah blah blah) NOT because your "restriction" is actually enforceable, but just to make absolutely sure no clown who sues or prosecutes your client for some illegal use can come after you as well.

Just a thought.