Have you had a model stolen?

iichiversii

Yeah oganocali, where did you get this selling shite from??? You fooled me

oganocali

(c) By publicly posting or displaying the content you give other end users of the Services a perpetual, sublicensable, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute (subject to the restrictions set forth in Sections 11.4 and 20.3 of these Terms) any Content or derivative works thereof which you publicly post or display on or through the Services.

Basically I read c) as you can do anything you want with it.

Not that I condone it...

Ogan

andybot

good point hellnbak - absolutely nothing in there about selling or redistributing.

actually - 11.4 specifically says NO redistribution without Google's permission

edit: hmm... by "aggregate" (in 11.4i) I guess they mean not run a service similar to theirs (which might be how having models on TurboSquid might be pretty clearly illegal.) Also, I looked for "redistribute", but they do say "distribute", which I guess is the same. so my question is - does distribute allow selling for money or not?

JMJOhio

I think the following is the key. Then when you upload a file, identify it as contents copyrighted.

(a) You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

Copyrighting electronic media is a fairly straightforward process that can be accomplished in one sitting after the media have been completed. Technically speaking, once the media are finalized, a copyright is created, however, the copyright can only be enforced in a court of law if it has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Instructions

Things You'll Need
Computer with Internet connection
Valid email address
Valid credit card
Electronic media in a common format
Copyrighting Electronic Media Online

1
Navigate to the electronic Copyright Office (eCO) section of the Copyright Office's website.

2
Sign in with your account, or create a new account. This step requires a valid email address.
3
Complete Fill-in Form CO.
4
Submit the copyright registration fee. This step requires a valid credit card.
5
Upload the electronic media in a common format, such as dot-pdf for documents, dot-avi for videos, or dot-zip for a collection of various files.

Read more: How do I Copyright Electronic Media? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6865493_do-copyright-electronic-media_.html#ixzz1jCBz0sPU

hellnbak

Good post Jim. The referenced site makes no mention of how much the fee is. Any idea? If it were only a few bucks I might consider it, but, unfortunately, I suspect that even if the fee were nominal, very few modelers would go to the trouble. And I mean very few. Like almost none

But, few modelers have invested the time and trouble of creating something like your '32, so in your case it would be worth it, IMHO. Are you considering it, just out of curiosity.

JMJOhio

Fee for an electronic filing is $35. The problem is with the legal fees you would encounter if taking legal action against someone.

Sooo...Steve, how many copies of my 32 have you sold. I think it's worth $1500 a pop. My lawyer will be in touch with your lawyer.

hellnbak

@jmjohio said:

Sooo...Steve, how many copies of my 32 have you sold. I think it's worth $1500 a pop. My lawyer will be in touch with your lawyer.

You can't prove anything

alpmeadow

An interesting dilemma concerning creating a SU model of the Bridge below, came from my SU model image posting celebrating the ten year anniversary event on the TFG forum at http://forums.tfguild.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=27429#Post27429
The next posted reply was not expected.
"Hi Irv,

I wonder if what you have posted above is a breach of copyright ?

We all of us here know the original designer of this bridge.

I am sure that no offence is intended (either way) and hence I simply raise this as a topic for thought, comment and discussion.

Regards"

I have carved this wood model for myself and is not for sale(design by Reid Costley and Ed Levin) .

The question is how far do you need to go, when modelling public structures that already exist?
Cheers

Alan Fraser

I don't think I'd lose any sleep over it, Irv. If that was the case, half the 3D Warehouse and the entire modern section of Great Buildings would be in the same boat.

jgb

I guess the rule of thumb here is
Don't post anything you would not give away for free.

There are a few ways to prove a model is yours in case it ever gets to the stage where somebody is selling your model and/or claiming ownership.

Put an ownership text block in a corner, defining how it can be used.
See my models in the warehouse, lower right corner. Not foolproof, especially if the slimer knows SU.

Hide your name inside the model, as a group, not a comp that can easily be found. There are many ways to make that invisible, but only you will know exactly where to find it.

But if there are people out there willing to buy a copy of your model for a few hundred $$$, you be the first to sell it. I could not believe some of the prices I saw on TurboSquid.

hellnbak

Just found this on the warehouse, posted by GoldenSim --

Went to the site and sure enuf, there was my Caddy. Admittedly, he did some work on it, had to 'cause I hadn't finished it, but it's definitely my Caddy. Funny thing is, he actually gives me credit down at the bottom. Strange.

2012-01-20_215111 a.png

Here's GoldenSim's post in the Warehouse --

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=edf9c6c0afc0605d8c5fe7d2e262dff3&prevstart=0

And here's the site in question --

http://www.cornucopia3d.com/purchase.php?item_id=10033

jgb

TIG just posted an "Invisible Font" which would be ideal to hide copyright notices inside your models.

Only you would know where they are.

See the topic......

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=42569&p=379946#p379946

d12dozr

Thats great for Sketchup models, but probably won't help if the model is exported to OBJ or other file format, which is what often happens on Cornucopia3D or Turbosquid.

Dave R

As Joel said, don't post anything you wouldn't give away for free. It's pretty simple. And basically assume that anything you post on 3DWH or any other public site is going to be taken and sold--changed or unchanged by someone else.

Aerilius

@jgb said:

TIG just posted an "Invisible Font" which would be ideal to hide copyright notices inside your models.

I've been using onscreen texts. Nobody can claim not having noticed my license info, but it can easily be removed (thus invisible font is a good idea). I guess if someone exports the model to an arbitrary format, even the invisible font is lost?

I thought, maybe one could "hide" messages by tweaking vertex coordinates (like the model scrambler)...

hellnbak

Another of my models being sold on Cornucopia3D. And again he actually gives me credit. Just don't understand why he would be selling my model (an improved version, with engine and such) and acknowledge that it is my model. Maybe he thinks that makes it OK.

2012-01-21_231202 a.png