Copyright

[nuttyspice]

Hi, 

I have bought a perfect form to create a plaster mold of which would be great to sell as bisque ware. I have seen this item available online, shops etc. There are no manufacturers marks. Is there any advise as to any copyright issues?

The item is a glass drinking vessel, and I plan on slip casting it to a night light type product.

Many thanks in advance for any advise.

nuttyspice.

Edited June 26, 2022 by nuttyspice

[Mark C.]

If its not your form then its a maybe as far as down the road issues. It depends on many factors. Is this form going to be mass produced and if so than a the orginal ownwer could come after you.

Or is it a long ago older item not in production anymore? Was it made in England or somewhere else?

to may variables for a clear answer

if you alter it enough then its a new form and no issues .

Edited June 26, 2022 by Mark C.

[oldlady]

mark is right,   if you are carving spaces out of the walls for the light to shine through, you are creating a new product which happens to have a similar shape to a drinking glass.  now way anyone other than a child would try to drink from a holey "glass".

 

[LeeU]

I deleted my previous comment here becasue as GEP has clarified directly below, my 2-cents worth was not a good suggestion.  (I had thought doing an alteration of the original & the absence of a makers mark would be OK).  I was wrong!

Edited June 28, 2022 by LeeU

[GEP]

Could you post a photo of the item you wish to slipcast? The answer depends on whether the design has distinctive and original features that would be recognizable as somebody else’s work. For example, is it a simple straight sided cylinder, and you think it’s perfect due to its proportions? Then this would be fine to replicate. Or, does the piece have a bas relief sculpture of an animal? Then this is not something you can replicate and sell. Simply making small modifications to it would not put you in the clear. That’s considered a “derivation” which is just as illegal as a copy. The lack of a manufacturer’s mark also doesn’t matter. You can take inspiration from other person’s work, but only if you incorporate the idea into a substantially new idea. Slipcasting is already a technique meant for “copying” so a copyright violation is far more likely, compared to handbuilding or wheelthrowing where it becomes really difficult to successfully copy. 

[Mark C.]

Speaking of copying  I long ago in another clay universe was a partner in a press mold ceramic pin and magnet  business we (the two of us which at that time was a girlfriend whom we spent 10 or so years together)

This business was concived as business that could fit in a very small space as the kiln was the only large item. We made the originals from clay and I made press molds and she glazed them. We used a small airbrush and very small compressor for glazing. We marketed zoos and aquariums from BC Canada to Hawaii  to the New England aquarium  and all in-between Places like the San Deigo zoo , Montery Aquarium buildt in 1984. Most of the marketing was personal as we went there and talked to them (Hawaii and BC) east coast was all on the phone and via mail.

I was alaways into fish from diving with them. My brother did the color layup master (a cibachrome) for us (he was a Art Professor at UCSB in Santa Barbara  and did cibachrome all the time back then) and had access to color equipment . Once I had a master I had a company print the color layouts

I have a few left even though this was all over 40 years ago-just a layout no price lists anymore. The  business was good for about 5-7 years and we moved on to other projects. I still have tons of pinbacks and magnets

 Now to the copyright  part of this story

At this time I was doing shows in the west coast callled harvest festivals in the late 70s early 80s and many clay folks where making ceramic pins I learned from them about copyrights.

We choose trhe cheaper copyright  path that many where taking and that is stamp the backs with the copyright logo  on pin backs and hope folks respected that. It worked and we never had any infringement that we know of. Her is that master cibachrome and final  color sales brochure. I still have a few magnets on the fridge of the more durable forms. We had 20 formscan you name them all? My guess is there are a few most do not know

The business was called Coruba Pins named from this rare rum label that I once enjoyed drinking -not much of a dinker past 40 years now.

Man I have done a lot with clay -most of this I had forgotten until this write up.

 

[Chilly]

12 hours ago, Mark C. said:

can you name them all?

monkey, eagle, elephant, swordfish

dolphin,  long low with flat tail - no idea, seal

duck, fish, rhino, penguin

Kanga, fish

panda, croc/ali/lizard, killer whale, lion

fish, camel, fish

 

Humm, looks like I know what "a fish" is, but not what fish!  None look like my dinner - salmon, trout, mackeral, plaice, tuna, prawn............

[Mark C.]

Mongoose, Parrot fish,Rainbow Wrase cleaner fish

 

[Mark C.]

The layout is on beach sand for a background-its an ocean thing .-Worked well for this layout before computers