Subject:
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Re: Legal to sell "reverse engineered" copies of LEGO stickers?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:40:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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6966 times
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In lugnet.general, Jeffrey Findley wrote:
> Is it legal to sell "reverse engineered" copies of LEGO stickers? Such as here:
>
> <http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Onideus>
>
> This guy is claiming that because they're "reverse engineered" from the
> originals that they're not "copies" and are therefore exempt from copyright
> protection.
I have used vector graphics to replicate logos on occasion, and the nature of
the process may give some insight into the legality of this.
Say we're duplicating a logo: first, an image or scan of the logo is imported
into the vector graphics program. Then, in essence, lines and shapes are laid
down on top of the original art and tweaked to match. Colors and shading can be
matched almost exactly.
If the person using the vector graphics program is sufficiently talented, the
original and its copy could very well be indistinguishable.
Now, as an example, say that I have decided to produce my own custom sets to
sell. And, I have "reverse engineered" the LEGO logo using this process and put
it on the set boxes. Is this copyright infringement? Most certainly, in my
mind. A copy of a copyrighted work is still a copy, even if it is not a
"perfect" copy or is arrived at by different means.
So, the question seems to be one not of whether these stickers plagiarize the
originals - because they do - but whether anyone at LEGO legal will mind. I
don't know the answer to that one, although I have a guess: they've got bigger
fish to fry and are more concerned about infringement by corporations that are
detracting significantly from the profit base; of less concern is the fan with a
passion for the retro LEGO sets who likes to bring back the old decals.
-Jordan Schwarz
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