Recasting Out of Business Props Question...

I'm with Amish Trooper. I think it's all about honor among thieves. We have ultimately crafted our own set of rules, which we apply internally, despite the fact that at the end of the day, ALL of those activities violate copyright laws.

I see the predicament though. It's really hard to make sweeping statements about recasting to define the rules, as there are so many unique situations.
 
MattMunson said:
I'm with Amish Trooper. I think it's all about honor among thieves. We have ultimately crafted our own set of rules, which we apply internally, despite the fact that at the end of the day, ALL of those activities violate copyright laws.

I see the predicament though. It's really hard to make sweeping statements about recasting to define the rules, as there are so many unique situations.
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Amen to that. :thumbsup

Thing is, those who are used to all these discussions etc etc etc, automatically know what is 'right and wrong' in the honor amongst thieves department, without having to think twice about any given situation.

It may look weird to those with less experience, but it seems so 'obvious' to us.

Hard to explain.
 
rollerboi said:
All we can do is strive to set the standard.
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What makes it confusing is that there is no standard. Simply put, some recasts of items no longer produced are (and have been) fair game and have been for as long as I can remember. Don Post immediately comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others.

There have always been exceptions, and there always will be, but what the community will and won't accept varies with the circumstance and the item in question and even then it changes over time.
 
WinstonWolf359 said:
What makes it confusing is that there is no standard. Simply put, some recasts of items no longer produced are (and have been) fair game and have been for as long as I can remember. Don Post immediately comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others.

There have always been exceptions, and there always will be, but what the community will and won't accept varies with the circumstance and the item in question and even then it changes over time.
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That's why we also respect our elders. ;) :lol
 
the IC han in carbonite seems to be a free for all and no one mentions a word.

how is this ok and recast of an MR at-at is not?

its either black or white or its all BS


-Z
 
Every hobby seems to have this same issue, and they all look at it differently - For example, I was on a model building message board and I asked if anyone would be interested if I recreated (essentially recast) the Penn Plax Creature from the black lagoon aquarium bubbler - For those unaware, its about a 600$ collectible that people put in fishbowls, and it lets bubbles go into the tank -

Well, I wanted to buy one, take it apart, and recast a few new ones for people who actually wanted one FOR their aquarium (as like kitch art or whatever)

Now keep in mind, this hasnt been produced since the late 70s, Penn Plax has NO intention of ever recreating it (We checked) Penn Plax doesnt even have the license anymore - And I was only going to make 20 or so... And you would have though I killed somebody with some of the replies I got (Although half of the people - more like 70% loved the idea)

This seemed like something PERFECT to recast, as literally NOBODY was getting hurt in the process - But in the end I got too busy with otehr stuff and it just didnt play out -

The irony was that Penn Plax "recast" the aurora Creature kit to make this item, they just shrunk it :)
 
It drives me nuts when people apply the word "recast" to everything.

If you are doing a new sculpt in a different scale, it's not a recast.
If you're making the first generation copy, it's a cast.
If you're talking about paper props, there's no casting involved.

The easiest way to stay on the "good" side of the hobby is to avoid questionable behavior. Once you've earned a good name/reputation for yourself, and been around long enough to get a good grasp of the community, then you can maybe consider some of the borderline casting projects. Maybe.

Don Post has been brought up; the biggest thing that comes to mind is those RG helmets. If I remember right, they were originally copied in order to get either a bigger helmet or better material (fiberglass RGs were quite the rage some time ago). Stuff like that muddies the water in these discussions, the functionality and so forth.

If one is a newbie coming in solely to make a quick buck, let's just say the community is real sensitive to that.
 
Every person is going to have their own take on this. I don't know if the OP is just interested in batting around the idea and seeing where people stand or if you are looking for a definitive answer from the staff. If your underlying question is whether or not you will be banned for recasting a piece from a company that has gone out of business or no longer holds a particular license (yes, even MR), the answer is "unlikely." Some individuals get up in arms about it, but as a community, the recasting of defunct company's pieces has long been allowed and we aren't changing that now.

With that being said, I want to be clear that anyone recasting an active licensee's pieces will not only be immediately shown the door, but we will also place a rabid Tasmanian devil in your trousers as a parting gift.


Same goes for recasting a casting of ANYTHING that another member has made without their permission.
 
Art Andrews said:
If your underlying question is whether or not you will be banned for recasting a piece from a company that has gone out of business or no longer holds a particular license (yes, even MR), the answer is "unlikely." Some individuals get up in arms about it, but as a community, the recasting of defunct company's pieces has long been allowed and we aren't changing that now.


Same goes for recasting a casting of ANYTHING that another member has made without their permission.
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thank you!
 
To touch on what Art said. If you recast a cast off a company piece that has gone out of business or no longer holds a particular license that a member made here or other prop boards then that is a no no. :wacko:lol
 
I might just quietly add to Art's statement here that there is no such thing as "public domain" based on the lineage of a piece. Just because a member copies something from a defunct company does not open the field up for people to then recast that member's casting, and will result in spankings, tasmanian devils, and the like.
 
Who would want a recast? Seriously, people - there's so much crap out there... that's mostly why I moved into scratch building for the most part - I was so tired of getting crap castings from people that were offering first run unique items/kits! Most of the time, in my experience, something is recast because the recaster needs to make money fast, and that almost always translates into fast/crap castings. So ethics and honor among thieves aside, it just sounds like a headache.
 
Im pretty new here and dont want to make too many waves but.... there are alot of people recasting stuff from companies that are now out of business and many of those items have become the definitive items to have. many others are cast off screen originals or molds from screen originals. so unless you sculpt or build something completely from scratch using only referances, its a recast in one way or another. if you collect the items and build it they way the screen used ones were, then its a replica. now whether or not the item in question is ok to make that seems to be up to the masses on several forums. in my opinion i would say if you plan on doing something ask ask and ask again. just my 2 cents
 
If someone gets one of those pants-devils and was interested in making a few copies of it for friends, I'd be interested.

Personally I find the whole recasting thing to be funny. I've given open permission to anyone who wants to recast any original thing I make. I don't care if they make money off of it, change it, do better than me or produce crap. There's no sense in sweating it.

I still turn away more request than I fulfill, despite that. So clearly it's not hurting me, at least in my own little niche.

I think the idea of marking territory in the community is just futile. Make things because you enjoy it, share because you want to share. Don't try to make a business off of making replicas of things you don't own the rights to and you don't have to worry about it.
 
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