@AlanRail posted:A copyright is a unique adaptation of an idea. A good example is a photo of a train signal; that photo is capable of being copyrighted.
The photo is not the idea itself. The idea of a train signal is not copyrightable.
So if you make an "exact" 1/4" scale model of an existing train signal, is that copyright-able??. Since the model is not unique being a copy, it is not copyright-able. The difference between the photo and the model is what else is around the signal in the photo. If the photo is taken at a unique orientation that is not a copy from another photo it is copyrightable.
So could the signal manufacturer claim your 1/4" model infringes? Yes, but only if their signal is unique and has been copyrighted. (Patents are whole different issue.) Which is why toy train manufacturers that make models of existing engines with unique markings must pay to use those original copyrighted designs on their scale models.
Further, if I take your 1/4" scale signal model and make my own model of your signal model, I have not infringed because you do not have or could ever have a copyright on your scale model of an existing signal. Your signal model is NOT unique.
Not sure I agree, technically if I create a model of a real train signal for modelers and attempt to sell it, the maker of the real thing could go after me (I doubt they would bother, but technically I think they could) for the image of the design,which they own. On the other hand if I made a train signal free lanced, not based on any prototype, no one could sue me on the grounds that it was a train signal, it has to be specific. A photo of a train signal is staged in a certain way it is a copyrighted image; on the other hand if I take a picture of that train signal that looks the same as a picture someone else took, my picture is my own copyrighted image s since I didn't use his. It gets fuzzy if I digitize his picture, use photoshop to have someone climbing the signal put into the picture, that could be considered a violation , because I didn't have the right to use the original image. If I was doing that for the purpose of satire, though, or protest or parody or something, it would be fair use). Edward Hopper's "Night Hawks", a painting of depression era people sitting at a coffee shop late at night, has had many parodies of it done, where for example they have famous people like Bogart and Marilyn Monroe sitting there and they are legal
If someone wrote code that allowed producing an HO signal and I modified it to print out a 1/4" scale model but used their code, it would be a violation of copyright, unless the person who coded it put it in the public domain. Simply modifying the scale would not be considered a new copyrightable work, would still be in violation. On the other hand, if you significantly change the code, to add details,make it represent something else, it may be considered enough of an improvement to be your copyright, but that is kind of gray area.
