Yesterday someone posted about an eBay sale of a photo that was obviously 'recreated' from a Pelican users original.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=419635
Today this thread cropped up:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=419752 and created some questions which I'm curious about.
It appears that snbush67 downloaded an image that nyne11 produced to look somewhat like a factory Porsche symbol.
So if nyne11 used the 'likeness' of a Porsche sticker, but not the Porsche script or anything else, if he simply used a similar font and made a sticker that looked like a real sticker, is this legal, i.e. can Porche claim that he is infringing on some 'general appearance copyright'.
And if nyne11 posts that 'image' online, (maybe without any disclaimers as to ownership or copyright), is it legal to download it use it as the basis of a new sticker?
It appears (I could be wrong, because he gives conflicting messages) that nyne11 feels the image belongs to him, and that subsequent users should request his permission (which would be granted) before making a new sticker. Is this reasonable?
I am NOT trying to make ayone out to be the bad guy, (although nyne11 doesn't appear to agree) and it may be a question of being polite versus law, i.e. if in doubt ask, but I am curious about this. And it's obviously going to happen more and more.
What is fair in this case? What about people who copy images from this forum, then re-use them for instructive purposes on another thread? Technically it's the same thing, isn't it?