When a digital model cannot be copyrighted in the US
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Apparently a federal court has decided that if you make a digital model too similar to an existing product, the digital model is not in itself protected by copyright. In the case in question, the plaintiff made very accurate car models for Toyota, which reused and redistributed those models without the plaintiff's permission.
(I saw this originally on /.)
The ruling:
Anyone think this will impact their business model?
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I think the crux of the matter here is the method used to produce the models. It seems to owe everything to the actual existence of the vehicles themselves...a kind of digital plaster-casting. I don't think the same would apply to a "freehand" mesh construction.
I would assume this might set a precedent for those companies that produce such content by means of laser scanning, however.
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@alan fraser said:
I would assume this might set a precedent for those companies that produce such content by means of laser scanning, however.
There are a few companies that make models of whole cities (like Sanborn, which supplies the "grey" blocky models for much of GE). I wonder if this ruling could be used to justify ignoring their regulations against redistributing their city packs?
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Im not quite sure how the company thinks their models were original works, as they created the starting mesh by scanning the cars in.
Although as alan said, i dont thtnk this will affect freehand modellers very much as that is original work only.
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I don't think it's a matter of how they were created, really, but the fact that they are exact copies. Toyota designed the cars (the "original works") and therefor owns the rights to those designs. The modeler made an exact copy of Toyota's designs.
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