FYI - Sailboat plans on eBay

[weheritage]

I put a bid on these but I think they will go more than I am willing to.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6576214187&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&rd=1

VINTAGE MARINE BLUEPRINTS FROM 1930'S-40'S~OVER 25 PCS~
"SPARKMAN & STEPHANS INC. NEW YORK, IS THE PRIMARY ARCHITECT LABELED ON THESE PRINTS"

[TimothyB]

Aye. Unfortunately the 'Collectors' seem to have gotten to this one and it is up to over $200.

Then again, if they are complete BPs, they are worth it in theory. The question is, of course, would you be legally able to build a boat from them? My guess is no since you have no way of knowing if a boat was built from them. Then again, neither would S&S, I would imagine.

What's really irritating about it is there is no accounting of WHICH designs these are, except for the two examples.

[Steve Paskey]

Never mind legally -- it isn't even clear that you could build a boat from them as a practical matter. In other words, it isn't clear that all the necessary prints for any one boat are included.

[Thorne]

Oh come on - legalisms can be fun, and certainly impact some boats and/or designs. My two BlueJays ('57 & '67) were both built in two parts -- the hull by a commercial builder and the decks by the owners. This avoided the (relatively) expensive fee they would have to pay to S&S otherwise.

So I'd say that you couldn't build *AND RESELL* an S&S yacht, plans or no plans, without paying some fees to S&S.

Legally, that is...

;- )

[Keith Wilson]

As I understand it, legally, you can do whatever you damn well please with those plans, except perhaps sell copies. If you buy a new or used book on growing turnips, you can grow as many turnips as you like using the information in the book. Unless the hull form is registered under the new copyright law (and none of these are) there is no restriction on copying a boat. Moral scruples are another matter.

[ 11-09-2005, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[emichaels]

Well alomst right.... If the plans have a "Design Property of...." statment then the plans are protected under copyright laws. When an engineer draws plans and place the statement on the drawing then they control who gets to use them. I think likely this applies to Nautical Architects as well.

But there are people out there building Herreshoff designs, like the 12-1/2.. I thought there were not supposed to be anyone except a few professional builders that had been given the OK to do that. Can anyone comment on this.

[ 11-09-2005, 06:13 PM: Message edited by: emichaels ]

[chucksw]

Is it wrong legally and ethically? Yes.

Naval architect's designs are covered by both licensing laws and copyright laws for many years. Would you get caught, probably not. Could they sue you if you did it and were turning out hot selling boats. Yes.

[Keith Wilson]

As I understand it, ideas and designs for functional objects cannot be copyrighted. Copyright law applies to works of art, pieces of music, books, in this case possibly to the plans themselves. Some ideas can be patented; boats very rarely are. If there is a licensing agreement between the designer and the buyer of plans, that's a contract, but it doesn't affect anyone else. There is a recent copyright law for boats, but it requires registration, and only covers very recent designs.

I design industrial machinery for a living. Unless something is patented, anybody can legally copy anything we build, and we'd just waste money trying to stop them. Copying ideas is common practice. My understanding is that putting "design property of" on plans may give you a warm fuzzy feeling, but legally it doesn't mean squat.

OTOH, I'm certainly no expert, and could be wrong; perhaps there's a lawyer here who really knows about this? Steve Paskey?