Plans Copiers on Ebay
There have been some very good points made in this topic. Here is my two cents worth.
The copyright laws are a bit gray, as far as "fair use".
My feeling after spending a lot of time drawing up a set of plans for a plane which I have been flying for years and having people ask for plans is:
Copying the plans is ok if it is for your use to protect the orginals. Like to cut it up to make parts, or to fit your work bench.
Not ok to copy and resell, same size, reduced or enlarged.
Not ok to build more than one plane from a set of plans unless it is for youself. Once you build from it you can't sell them.
My thought is that by selling my plan is that I am selling the right to build one copy of my copyrighted design from my copy of copyrighted plans. Note this is my plan when I sell plans and may not be the intent of other plan makers.
I think that any one out there who has produced a set of good plans can see that it is only right that the designer should get the payment for his work. Now if a designer does not care if his work is copied thats their choice.
If I ever catch anyone selling my plans on E-Bay, like those other jokers I would try to go after them.
As far as the comment about copying being common place in the hobby. That is a true statment. I have a good friend who designed a great parkflyer model and sold plans. Later a larger mail order shop started selling an ARF exact copy of his plane that was made in the Czech Republic. They knew it was a copy but sold it and still sell it to this day. As far as I am concerned they are just as guilty by selling it as the person that produces it is. He did not get any monies from this and it was done without his permission.
Be a part of the soluition not part of the problem, don't buy copies of copyrighted material.
Jeremy