you should see whats next...tom, your telling me i can't use 8 floating points in a ebony front...and also i can't use a floret as a decoration at each position of my cue i got my floret from this site
www.craftsmanspace.com it's not the same tony didn't send me his program it's free...and the crown cap i've seen it on a lot of different cue makers cues it's like a worn out hooker it's been used and abused...my theory is it's not a design theft...because it's not 100% identical...it might look similar but not so i will build ...ON!!!!
there are many design from this site that i seen on big cues but i'll keep it at that.
If used individually I certainly don't see any problems with using those designs. But when they are all used together in a cue that looks exactly like something Tony has built or would build that's where I I find it distasteful.
You want to use 8 floating points? Have at it! Inlays that are very similar to what Tony uses.... who cares? Crowned buttcap? Sure, why not. But..... add them all together.... Not cool.
As I mentioned in my last post, it could be construed as infringement if it could easily be confused with the original. If someone posted your other cue (the one that looks like a BB) in the gallery and did a "guess the maker" I would bet 100% of the people would have said it was a Black Boar before you posted it here and everyone knew it was your build.
There were hundreds maybe even thousands of other ways you could have designed and built that cue and NOT made it look exactly like a Black Boar. You could have left off the crowned buttcap or did the points differently. But my guess is that you WANTED it to look like a BB. You knew it would draw a lot of attention and of course for the price compared to a BB it would be a no brainer for someone with the funds to purchase it.
Let me ask this, what's the difference between what you did and what the Chinese do with bicycles, watches, and other counterfeit items? They are built to look like the real thing but are different to those who know what to look for. I'll tell you the difference.... it's called precedent. Meaning that no other cue maker has gone so far as to drag another cue maker into court for design theft. And just because it hasn't happened it doesn't mean that it's ok to rip off another cue maker's design that they are expressly known for.
There is a difference between using design cues from another maker and outright stealing the design they are known for. No matter how you try and spin it, you knew EXACTLY what you were doing when you built this cue. You knew before you even took the first turn on the lathe that it was going to look exactly like a BB. But you built it anyway. And that Leon, is the problem.
Just curious, if this was a Dennis Searing cue design that you copied how long do you think it would have taken Dennis to pick up the phone and call his attorney?
