Stop Thief!!!!

orangecrush

orangecrush

Just a banger
Silver Member
Ok, now that I have your attention. There has been talk before about cue design theft. And I'm thinking with all the cue makers out there, how in the heck can you create a cue that has NEVER been done before EVERY time. Because I'm sure that whatever woods you use or what ever inlays you use there is probably a cue maker out there that has done that design in someway. Someone please help me to understand......
 
Anybody got Jimbo's number or alternate screen name? This is his baby and I ain't gonna step on his toes!
 
There is a difference between a design that is inspired by another cuemaker's design and a blatant copy.

A cuemaker who makes a particular design first owns the copyright to it. If another cuemaker copies that design signifigantly then he is guilty of infringement and theft. If the design is one that is common such as four diamonds and four four points then it is considered public domain. Thomas Wayne's Celtic Knots for example would be considered an original, never before made design and an exact copy of that would be an infringement on Mr. Wayne's copyright. Even a very similar cue might be considered to be infringing. Part of copyright law deals with derivative works as well.

Basic geometric designs are public domain and as such not copyrightable. That would be similar to trying to copyright a blue cue. Certain combinations of geometric shapes are copyrightable though.

I am not sure what "Jimbo" has to do with this. I remember seeing the tagline on his posts about "stop cue design theft" but I never read anything he posted about it. I am sure you could find his viewpoints in the archives.

The way to stop this is for the ACA to have their members register all the cues they make with the ACA and posted to the ACA's website with the creation date and copyright notice. Then when a cue is found to be infringing on a member's design the ACA should take appropriate legal measures to end that infringement. Not many individual cuemakers can afford to do this on their own.

The ACA could also work with the foreign producers to insure that distributors and other buyers are not allowed to request ACA member cue's designs without permission from the copyright holders.

No one is going to protect cuemakers from copyright violations except themselves. They can cry about it or they can use their collective organization to fight it.

The overseas manufacturers aren't the ones who are active in the violations of the copyrights. It is the distributors and customers who are requesting designs that belong to others. The manufacturer can be likened to Kinko's wherin they are not responsible for vetting the customer's right to use any design that they bring to be made. If the ACA were to work with them however then they could easily vet the designs to make sure they weren't producing copyrighted designs.
 
The music industry has the same problem. You can't copy a song note for note, but you can make music that sounds similar. Geez, there are only so many chord progressions you can do, the list is not endless. Remember when Geprge Harrison got sued for the song "My Sweet Lord" ? IMO, he got screwed on that one. There WAS some similar music to the song "He's So Fine", but note for note the song was different.
I would think the cue industry would be similar. If someone in Bumphuck, Egypt made a cue and someone in Kalamazoo made one that was very similar simply by coincidence, I would think as long as it wasn't entirely identical (which to get it accidentally identical would have to beat the odds in some form of a miracle) it wouldn't be infringement of one's copyright.
My personal opinion on matters like these is unless there is a blatant attempt to copy and market something that has a patent on it, there should be SOME leniency on those who make a product that is very similar.

Maniac
 
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