Re: [Fwd: PC: Walthers Decals]

[Blue Moon Network Administrator <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 23 Jul 2001 rharris -AT- columbus.k12.oh.us wrote:
> 
> Okay, let me play the devil's advocate.  I'm a decal manufacturer, we'll
> say, and I am thinking about designing and releasing new sets of PC decals.
> I'm going to invest research time in making sure the numbers and font are
> correct, and invest time and materials in their printing on quality decal
> film stock.  I really want to do this just so some cheap so-and-so can buy
> ONE set and then just use his computer to rip me off!  I think not!
> 
> I hope I don't hear anyone complain when no new decal sets are produced.
> If we don't play by the copyright rules, there may be a time when this will
> be the case.

There is nothing unlawful about duplicating decals for personal use. It's when
you distribute someone's unique work that you infringe.

I have used the artwork from various sets as a starting point to generate
_correct_ decals for various power and rolling stock. I find that quite often
there are no 100% accurate commercial decals for what I am modeling at the
time so I make my own. Our HO club road's "modern" scheme uses PC lettering
and number styles, we'd be insane to cut up PC sets and not to make our own.

I keep a large selection of commercial decals "in stock", I probably have
upwards of 60 sets right now, intact and unused in both HO and N scale. If a
set meets my needs "as is" I will use it, if not I may scan and modify one to
my specific project's needs. There's nothing wrong with that.

In fact, I have found that even doing a straight off duplication of some
decals entails far more work for exacting results than the commercial decal
set is worth. The only justification for doing it at the time is that I didn't
want to wait another week to finish a PC boxcar project and I needed 4 sets of
different numbers for an NYC to PC reporting marks only swap. Running off
decals for entire car numbers beats the heck out of piecing them together from
single digits. When I did 10 identical EL boxcars in HO, I ran all the side
and end numbers off at once and used a commercial set as the master. I'd have
gone nuts piecing together 240 individual numbers, in fact I don't think I
would have done any if I couldn't have printed my own as I wanted the "fleet"
look from the start. Of course my numbers looked better than the commercial
decal manufacturer's when I was done, but I'm nut about artwork.

You said the key phrase above, "buy one set", and that's exactly what the
decal manufacturer is counting on, a number of people buying at least one set,
if someone buys two or more it is just the icing on the cake, not the cake
itself. If a project to do 4 or 5 cars is made feasible by copying a
commercial decal where otherwise not even one car would be done then the
manufacturer has made a sale that they wouldn't have, they certainly benefit.

The manufacturers will continue to release new and more obscure sets because
that's their business. Once the artwork and setup is done they can rerun them
when they need to. I don't think the home duplicators have much of an impact
on their business. Now those who copy and sell them, I say prosecute them to
the fullest extent of the law. Make their "free" decal sets cost them a few
thousand dollars :)

Just my two cents because I buy AND make a lot of decals.

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr.       Blue Moon President & Network Administrator
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