Group Huddle

[Nitetimes]

Tinytears.cc has just scored a coup. In order to stop all the copyright infringement of their teardrop plans, photos, etc. AND everybody else they have put an item on ebayhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1467&item=5559174580&rd=1

Its "ALL THE TEARDROP PLANS ON EBAY FOR $1.75"


What a great thing they have done for the community and the popularization of teardrops.

That is excellent, good write up and all. It will be interesting to see how it does.
Does that mean I need to buy the link so I can get here?
It ought to really burn their a$$e$ when they find that auction.

[mikeschn]

That was a noble attempt, but ebay doesn't want people selling URLs. Ebay will terminate that ad and give John Blewett a warning.

John, you'll have to make a CD too, and sell that for $1.75.

Mike...

P.S. Or I could start working on a CD to get more people on the forum.

Dean has already volunteered his designs. What do you guys think?

[angib]

Dean has already volunteered his designs. What do you guys think?

I'd be happy to see any of my stuff added, if useful.
Andrew

[mikeschn]

Sounds good Andrew... Your designs would be very helpful!

I'll start grabbing the PDF's next week.

Mike...

[Denny Unfried]

If there's anything on my site that can be of use just let me know and I'll make the un-watermarked pics available.

Denny

[Mark Mckeeman]

Go for it Mike,

I've read but not contributed to this discussion since I have no real designs or a Teardrop for that matter. (Not that I won't someday)

May I suggest that contributors offer their designs to Mike to compile a CD to be sold at a little over cost. The proceeds could go towards T$TTT cost of maintaining this site or prizes for draws or whatever.

Mark

[mwatters]

While I can appreciate the effort (CHEAPLY selling a CD to kill the market for the bootleggers) - I can predict how the story will end. You might (just might) be able to block their market off while you still are willing to go to the trouble of selling these CDs cheap. But I'm guessing that eventually you'll get tired of doing it and decide to stop (in my case it took about 4 or 5 years). Once that happens, they'll just start selling the CD you took the time to prepare.

Also - I've seen a fair amount of talk about copywrite issues, but the majority of the insult seems to be a matter of someone making a profit from someone else's work (one is a legal issue, the other an ethical one).

Given that, it's not clear to me why everyone is so nonchalant about distributing scans of the old plans from magazine articles. For many of them the copywrites are expired and they are in the public domain (eliminating the legal issue), but selling a CD containing them is still profiting from that other person's work (the ethical issue remains).

Mike
Watters

[Laredo]

Boy howdy, I bet Shrug and Guy could tell some war stories ....

Gents and ladies,
I work in the publishing industry. We put a copyright on everything we ever let go out our door or get saved on a hard drive, as part of the original file. The create date on the file is saved down into the seconds in the original

You can get a legal copyright -- it may be a freebie depending on your state -- but if you really want to be sure your stuff stays YOUR stuff what you want is a patent. No, you probably cannot patent a whole teardrop -- but Cary at Camp Inn could probably patent his series of designs, and anybody who has a unique galley or window or door seal or hatch hinge detail can probably apply for a patent on that. Just don't put it out in public until you've sent in the paperwork.

Then, mark it patent pending and get ready for the ongoing paperwork.

[Denny Unfried]

Received an email from a fellow teardropper Jack that pirated plans cd seller, les_lea, is no longer an Ebay user. Also seller, ezzybay, that had a very similar item is no longer a seller. Maybe the good guys scored one, we will see.

Denny

[Guest]

That's great news!!!

[theborgs]

I am glad I read this topic this morning. I omost bought one of those CD's last night. So how would one go about getting plans the right way? I have been looking for plans on the net and I can not find good plans that show every thing I want to see or does not give a good discription of what the plans do show. I hate to send good money out and not get what I want. Money is a huge factor in building A TD for us. I have found a couple of "free sites" that have PDF files, but I am on dail up and it takes up to a half hour to get a file loaded then most of the time my computer does not read all the plans. If this site was to put together a how to CD and use the profits to help the site I would like to be the first one to buy one. We have never built anything like this before and really want to do this. I just wish there was a Teardrop for Dummies out there.
MIchelle

[mikeschn]

I believe someone posted all the teardrop plans who's copyright has expired. Denny, did you post them?

Mike...

[Denny Unfried]

I believe someone posted all the teardrop plans who's copyright has expired. Denny, did you post them?

Mike...

I haven't posted them but it would be interesting to see the list.

Denny

[jgalt]

Ok,
I've got another question...which should help out many of us.
Obviously there's got to be more than just putting the "C in the circle" copyright mark on an image, right?
What steps must one take to follow through with to get an image copyrighted?
What about getting a design or a set of plans copyrighted?

From what I've read of copyright law - putting the "(c) Copyright xxxx" on an image or document IS a legal copyright. I'm not versed on digital copyright law, I'm sure several subtle nuances are now used to mark copyright. Regardless of the new changes, I feel certain that this simple rule is still in effect.

If you are worried about your image or design being re-used for profit, putting a "(c) Copyright 2004 by John Doe" gives you legal protection. You don't need to file anywhere or pay anybody anything.

But if someone then puts your image on CD, along with 99 others, and sells only 1 CD for $10 - then your actual damages are pretty small. If the reseller is a real high-rolling pirate, the judge (or jury, depending) might just inflict punitive damages. If Bill Gates does it, you might be able to retire (or take a really nice vacation)!