Selling plans


banderson

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I would not say I am going pro but I would like to fund this little addiction of mine. I have a lot of fun in the design of wood working projects.  I use AutoCAD Inventor for all my drawings.  I would like to sell my plans.  It would be great to sell the products too but I have only a little time to make a good project and work out the details before moving onto another.  Does Anyone have a good websites that sell wood working plans?  I have a shop on etsy but the traffic on that site is looking more for the finished pieces.

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I just bought some plans on Amazon and I've seen them on eBay. I think I paid $6 bucks for the Amazon plans so probably not a lot of money in it, but since it is IP you've already developed your cost will just be whatever Amazon charges you.

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To sell plans you have to differentiate yourself. If you have CAD plans for a Shaker table, I wish you the best of luck. If you reinvented the rocking chair you may be on to something.

 

I just looked at your Etsy page... The plans should have the same cost. It makes it easy to buy more than one, rather than figuring out which one to buy. I like the content, and you actually be on to something there.

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I have checked out your blogspot, and it appears your are well on your way.

 

Your FAQs does have a paragraph about not selling the toys....you have every right to place restrictions on your IP. 

 

Personally, I would state the question differently:

 

Are the plans copyrighted?  Yes

 

Are there any copyright restrictions? Yes...then list your restrictions

 

The only way to protect your IP is to include the copyright logo and your restrictions on the plans.

 

Then you can invite commercial interests to contact you at e-mail.addy or 1--555-122-1212.

 

Best of luck.

 

 

 

 

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I have checked out your blogspot, and it appears your are well on your way.

 

Your FAQs does have a paragraph about not selling the toys....you have every right to place restrictions on your IP. 

 

Personally, I would state the question differently:

 

Are the plans copyrighted?  Yes

 

Are there any copyright restrictions? Yes...then list your restrictions

 

The only way to protect your IP is to include the copyright logo and your restrictions on the plans.

 

Then you can invite commercial interests to contact you at e-mail.addy or 1--555-122-1212.

 

Best of luck.

 

Plans need a licensing agreement the FAQ is mealy a plain english explanation. No you do not need a copyright logo on your plans to have copyright protection. Designs are protected by design patents, preventing sale of end product would be next to impossible to enforce. The plans themselves are easy.

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Plans need a licensing agreement the FAQ is mealy a plain english explanation. No you do not need a copyright logo on your plans to have copyright protection. Designs are protected by design patents, preventing sale of end product would be next to impossible to enforce. The plans themselves are easy.

 

Since I don't have a copy of the plans, I don't know what kind of protection applies...patent or copyright.  If the plans are sold without some sort of protection...patent number, patent applied for, copyright statement, or license agreement, then, correct me if I am wrong, aren't the plans being released into public domain?

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Since I don't have a copy of the plans, I don't know what kind of protection applies...patent or copyright.  If the plans are sold without some sort of protection...patent number, patent applied for, copyright statement, or license agreement, then, correct me if I am wrong, aren't the plans being released into public domain?

 

No. First anything with a patent has to be labeled with the number. A design patent protects the design. You don't get a patent for the plan themselves you get a copyright. Copyrighted materials do not need to be marked in any way. That said if you don't actually file you have no protection the symbol doesn't really mean much now days since every sam dick and john put a symbol on everything wether they file or not. The license agreement is a contract so in this case the contact is between two parties. If the language states that the license is non transferable and that the products being build cannot be used for commercial purpose then you can enforce the terms of the contract. Good luck because then you run into jurisdiction issues with internet sales. Its nothing but a parade of horribles trying to enforce this sort of thing. If you don't defend then you don't have any rights, gets expensive for a couple of wooden toys.

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No. First anything with a patent has to be labeled with the number. A design patent protects the design. You don't get a patent for the plan themselves you get a copyright. Copyrighted materials do not need to be marked in any way. That said if you don't actually file you have no protection the symbol doesn't really mean much now days since every sam dick and john put a symbol on everything wether they file or not. The license agreement is a contract so in this case the contact is between two parties. If the language states that the license is non transferable and that the products being build cannot be used for commercial purpose then you can enforce the terms of the contract. Good luck because then you run into jurisdiction issues with internet sales. Its nothing but a parade of horribles trying to enforce this sort of thing. If you don't defend then you don't have any rights, gets expensive for a couple of wooden toys.

 

How do you know so much about this stuff? 

 

-Ace-

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No. First anything with a patent has to be labeled with the number. A design patent protects the design. You don't get a patent for the plan themselves you get a copyright. Copyrighted materials do not need to be marked in any way. That said if you don't actually file you have no protection the symbol doesn't really mean much now days since every sam dick and john put a symbol on everything wether they file or not. The license agreement is a contract so in this case the contact is between two parties. If the language states that the license is non transferable and that the products being build cannot be used for commercial purpose then you can enforce the terms of the contract. Good luck because then you run into jurisdiction issues with internet sales. Its nothing but a parade of horribles trying to enforce this sort of thing. If you don't defend then you don't have any rights, gets expensive for a couple of wooden toys.

 

I agree with just about everything and would add:  The biggest violator of data rights is the US government.  My legal department would review every CLIN and CDRL to ensure every page of every delivered document contained the appropriate  data rights statement.  My PCO would state at every meeting that any document or deliverable  submitted to the government without a data rights statement was considered public domain and the government would therefore have unlimited data rights to that document or deliverable.

 

While copyrighted data does not "have" to be marked, the issue becomes burden of proof in the event of a lawsuit.

 

It seems that the system is rigged to make the lawyers rich.  My recommendation is if someone wants to spend their time, effort, and money developing ideas, plans, or products, they should at least research what it takes to protect their intellectual property (IP).

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While copyrighted data does not "have" to be marked, the issue becomes burden of proof in the event of a lawsuit.

 

It seems that the system is rigged to make the lawyers rich.  My recommendation is if someone wants to spend their time, effort, and money developing ideas, plans, or products, they should at least research what it takes to protect their intellectual property (IP).

 

Not really anything to do with burden of proof. It help eliminate the innocent infringement defense which could drastically affect statutory damage in your case.

 

The biggest thing is to actually register. Time goes by pretty quick and once you get past the 5 year mark it may not be worth the effort to pursue an infringement case unless the product is very valuable. For under $50 to do batch registrations its not a big expense. I do cabinet layout and plans 10 at a time and have done them this way for years.

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Do you get a lot of interest at that site?  I have looked at it and their cut seems high and they require a membership fee.  When I look through their plans almost all of them have no reviews so I have to wonder if they are getting traffic to their site or if people are buying.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wood working plans would seem to be rather like recipes, if I copy your recipe and put it in my book as long as I do not copy the language and formatting.  So a copyright would likely cover your prints and text, but not the dimensions of your design.  Conceivably you could patent some feature but that is expensive and what specific kind of feature are you planning on patenting?

 

A terms of use contract would offer more protections but there are plenty of ways around that as well.  For example I having a finished piece be reverse engineered.

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