General Discussion : 50402


General / 50402	50401 \| 50403

Subject:	Re: Selling someone else's work on Ebay
Newsgroups:	lugnet.general
Date:	Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:48:50 GMT
Viewed:	630 times

In lugnet.general, Corey Sanders wrote:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=40018

As you can see from the folder, many people have used my instructions to create a Globe of their own. That’s why I did all that work in the first place. I could’ve just created mine and no more but I did a LOT of work and created instructions. I did this to make my own contribution to the AFOL community.

Here’s the irritating auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1186&item=5963673227

Well, even if they copied your instructions verbatim it doesn’t seem they’ve done anything illegal, since there was no restriction on use of your instructions. If they did indeed copy it and are using your work to profit (with their own bricks), I’d say that’s at worst rude and opportunistic but not “wrong”. It would be great if people always acknowledged where they got their resources, but it doesn’t always happen.

Contrariwise, I’ve also seen people demand recognition as the person who “invented” a certain style of building or particular way of putting bricks together. Personally, I find that fully as irritating as those who fail to acknowledge obvious inspiration or resources. (Not saying you fall into that category, it appears to me you have a legitimate concern.)

On close observation, it looks like the globe on eBay is very close to your design, in dimension and continental placement, although it’s not exact (I don’t think). I agree it’s more than coincidence that it’s so close... but also, I recall seeing a LEGO globe on LEGO.com several times (although I can’t find it now) which had roughly the same look to it - that might also have been used as inspiration. Not as likely, seeing as how you have instructions and all, but still possible.

If things like this keep happening with the same people, word gets around.

Regards,
Kelly

Message has 1 Reply:

		Re: Selling someone else's work on Ebay
(...) For years now the OpenGL programming books have featured a LEGO globe on cover. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of. (URL) Have fun, Don (20 years ago, 22-Mar-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)

Message is in Reply To:

		Selling someone else's work on Ebay
Out of curiousity, a couple times a month I search Ebay, looking for people selling LEGO creations of mine. Sadly, I often come across one or two a month. These people either claim it as their own, or make no mention that they copied the (...) (20 years ago, 22-Mar-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)

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