ORIGINAL: dolanosa
No kidding! I want a copy of that bird again. Speaking of which, is there a copyright lifetime for plans and such? If the plans are being sold, like in Model Airplane News, is it legal to copy the aircraft itself and sell it even though the design might be owned by someone? Also, if the copyright has expired on a certain design, will the original plans be available to the general public, in which case, M.A.N. really has a public domain print? Thanks in advance.
Copyrights do expire, because publishers have to renew them on long running book titles. Unlike patents, they CAN be renewed, though.
If MAN is selling them, then they are likely copyrighted material (their legal department is not likely to let that slip through the cracks...). However, I believe it would be legal to sell kits based on the plans, as long as you don't distribute unauthorized copies of the plans themselves. You would have to check on copyright or trademark protection on the name as well and probably use a different name to avoid issues. We have all seen this done in R/C and other places before and it's not a big deal.
Mark