On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 01:22:03 GMT, Bill
wrote:

|I've got an interesting question that I have been thinking about for a
|little while. I have built a piece from plans I got from a woodworking
|mag for myself. I also made the same thing as a wedding gift. The
|couple liked it so much that they said they would tell a few people about
|them and they may have a few orders for me.
|
|Now the question. Is it permissible to make money of a plan from a mag?
|Do they retain some sort of copyright on anything made from those plans?
|I think I have the potential to make a few bucks here but I don't want to
|without checking on the ethics.
|
|Thanks for all replies,

Thanks for thinking about the ethics of the situation. I've been
ripped off more than once, but in the other direction. In one case, I
wrote a paper that was published in an amateur radio magazine and the
next thing I knew the publisher had started a kit company with my
design offered as his first kit.

I think you've received some legal answers, but as a practical matter
you probably can get away with it. I would look at it this way: will
my building and selling these items injury the party that published
the plans?

In my case above, I was nearly injured, because after publication, I
received several hundred letters from people who wanted to duplicate
my design and wanted to buy circuit boards for it. As a (what turned
out to be non-profit) service to these folks I contracted to have a
couple of hundred boards fabricated and my ability to recover my costs
was jeopardized by this "alternate source." Fortunately I did just
barely recover my outlay.

In your case, if the people selling plans don't lose business because
you make a few widgits for sale, I don't think they would have a
gripe.

As a parting thought, consider that once a week on public television,
Nahm, does exactly what you're thinking about. He makes a copy of
someone else's work and "sells" it for money to our friends at
Delta/Porter Cable, Minwax, etc.

Wes