Ok guys, I have a knowledgable grandmother on my team, she’s helping me put together my own pack. Now according to her, if you change something on the pack, even the smallest thing, you can legally sell it, because it’s not exactly like the ones in the movie. Change something that’s not noticable at a glance, wires or something else, and even patented items can be done like this, with a few rearrangements of things, instant proton pack you can sell to others w/o any lawyers crawling up your butt. I think anyone of you on here who is good at making packs fast could just adjust a bit and make a killing selling them… If ya do.. Please give me a discount for this legal info?
FALSE
The copyright on the pack or any other movie prop is a likeness, if it is confusingly similar, then it’s an infringment…
FALSE
Patents are a whole other ball game and even more protected…
Intellectual Property Rights are a tangled mess of laws that favor the original owner greatly, don’t be fooled by people who quote “urban legend” as facts… There is simply no “tweak it this %” clause in the laws…
I think like it cannot be like 50% accurate to anything or something like that.
sheesh…laws these days, I tell ya…
Correct. Now if you… oh, I don’t know, made it shaped like a big triangle, with an MP5 submachinegun as the wand, THEN you might be safe.
But that throws the whole “screen accuracy” ideal right out the window.
Besides, how low of a price point do you think you can hit to “make a killing” on these things? $50? $100? $500?
There’s a lot of factors to take into consideration, even if you’re just cranking out quick vaccuformed pieces of… plastic. 
So, you’re the one I implicate when I get arrested and fined $20,000 for mass manufacture of a copyrighted item? :lol:
There’s a reason why nobody actively sells a screen accurate item, already assembled. Getting the licensing is EXPENSIVE. Master Replicas is about the only company that has produced a good quality product, on a consistent basis and not gone out of business doing so.
Russ
Actually it’s still false, like I said there is no % change rule in the law…
The biggest catch in the law is the term “derivative works” if it’s based on anypart of the GB franchise it will be considered a derivative work and a copyright violation… It’s a broad term and covers just about anything and everything… If the pack you create (even if it’s 100% your design) has any resemblance to a GB pack (or is even hinted as a GB pack, by associated items) it could be considered a derivative work and a violation of copyright…
My head hurts. I think I’m going to be sick with with all this mumbo jumbo :oops:
LOL :lol:
So how do people get away with selling them so openly on eBay?
I think private sale of hand-made, hobby items, as one offs, are considered no real “threat” to profits, or the brand.
Mass produced, fibreglass or vac-formed packs, all finished and completed, sold 3 at a time or whatever, is a bit different. Then you’re making an industry out of thier intellectual property.
Ah I see, well then, I’ll be sure to inform this person she’s wrong, and I appreciate you guys pointing out I’m a gullible jackass lol, better that than the 20k lawsuit etc etc.
Speaking of the big triangle, why not just make it a flamethrower? That way, you’d have a ‘beam’ of light blasting whatever you were shooting at, and have the same effect as the proton beams do on stuff, which, in effect would be cool, but with laws today, would probably result in more lawsuits.
Some one told me it had to be a 20% off to be legal
I dunno, only relaying what I heard, for all I know, I could’ve just spread an urban legend that could get someone in to real trouble, I beleive some research is in order here.
How do you measure a visual percentage, anyway?
That makes sense… Thanks!
Good point Frinky.. You can’t really measure it. So far as in worries on profits, I think there’s truth to that, if they were being mass-produced, the lawyer fees would be worth it, for one or two small-time guys, the lawyer cost wouldn’t be worth jack because they wouldn’t get much out of the guy, even if he had to pay 2 mil or something, how’s the average guy gonna pay that? Good points on both of you.
The same way 1000s of people everyday break laws, at this time the studio is not pressing the issue or is turning cheek… There are many prop builders in the community that will confirm that studios DO send out Cease and Desist love letters occationaly, or enfore VeRO rights on ebay quite often…
And to say it again, there is no % measure of difference period in the law it’s all urban legend!
Just look at it this example, lets say you could get away with a 20% different claim, so taking this literally you could copy 80 pages out of a 100 page book re-writing 20 pages and legally sell it as yours? This simply isn’t the way it is…
Pretty much any proton pack (or replica prop) anyone makes is clearly a derivative design from the GB franchise as a whole, and a copyright violation…
Darn! There goes my plans for getting “Moby Richard” printed… 
Just kidding you Exoray. Very valid analogy, and I stand corrected.
Russ
Does the law also apply to a Parody…
If I were to make a film and have it be a parody of the GB’s and used a completley redisigned proton pack for my film…would I be in the clear if I were to go and sell that film.
Spaceballs was pretty darn close to the Star Wars films and had a light saber coming out of a ring but it was a lightsaber none the less.
Parody is a legitmate defense to copyright infringment… Yes, you are still violatiing copyright but you now have a defense that is legit and can be argued in court…
Will you win? Good question as the cases that have pushed all the way on the parody defense are about a 50/50 split on winning… The court takes many things into consideration when looking at a parody defense… Also note that in the case of parody movies and songs in many cases an arangement in made between the two parties to avoid any legal issues down the road…
Here is a good quicky parody defense overview site…
I think if your going to sell anything on Ebay that could be misconstrued as a “copyrighted” item you could get into trouble. If you are selling a one off “fan made item” then it probably won’t attract any legal attention however if it appears as though you are selling it as a licensed product or are making a consistant income from the sales, it will probably get noticed.
I had a baseball cap up on Ebay once,(and I was just selling one),which had “World cup 2002 Korea” on it and it got yanked almost instantly. It was a $3.99 item! I also know someone personally who had a C&D placed on him and it was not pretty 
You need to be very careful, the legal community has turned a blind eye to much that is going on but it may not always be that way, I think it’s only a matter of time before the owners of intellectual property really start to take notice because they are losing too much $$$