POV-Ray : Newsgroups : irtc.animations : it's a question of copyright ... : Re: it's a question of copyright ... Server Time
26 Apr 2024 20:34:20 EDT (-0400)
  Re: it's a question of copyright ...  
From: John VanSickle
Date: 6 Feb 2004 11:50:54
Message: <4023C5EB.1A535A72@hotmail.com>

> 
> sorry about that, but I don't get it.
> If I would do an animation that looks almost the same as a sequence
> from any movie.
> But, I do everything (the modelling, objects, scene, FX just
> everything from scratch again on my own).
> -- To much work, but just as a question --
> In that case, I would have to ask the guys who made the movie for
> permission???

First, while Paramount owns the trademarks for Trek, they do not
own a trademark or copyright on the concept of space travel.  If your
ship flies through space, it is not a violation.  If your ship is
designed with a saucer section and warp nacelles, then you are on much
shakier ground (and you're not being terribly creative, either, which
will hurt you in the contest anyway).

You notice that the ships in Trek look different from the ships in
Star Wars.  That is why the Paramount producers cannot win a suit
against LucasFilms.  Lucas didn't set out to copy Star Trek, but rather
implemented the same idea (space travel) using his own unique vision.

Then Battlestar Galactica came out, and through being clearly an
attempt to ride Star Wars' coattails, did not result in any litigation
(or did nothing more than make a couple of lawyers rich); the stories
(such as they were) were sufficiently different from Lucas' work that
it was not simply Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off.

The upshot is:  If it looks like you are consciously copying another
work in the genre, you may be in trouble.  If it looks like you are
applying the same concepts with a different vision, you'll be fine.

Regards,
John


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