In article . com,
TrailRat wrote:
A little debate between friends has led me to spill it among the
newsgroup. The debate is over mass produced furniture and the
reproduction of it in a private workshop.

The question goes along these lines. Is approaching a flat-pack
supermarket or furniture store with the intention of copying a piece
illegal.

the 'approach', itself, is definitely *NOT* illegal.


A few of the answers state that it must be a breach of copyright laws.
Another answer states that if a carpenter copies a piece
unintentionally, then he'd break a copy right law.

FALSE TO FACT. Copyright law recognizes that "independant, parallel
development" can, and _does_ happen. Copyright protects the particular
"expression" of an idea, _not_ the underlying idea itself. If you
'indepentantly' create a duplicate of a copyrighted work -- where it
can be shown that you never had any access to the 'original', you are
*not* infringing on the copyright on that 'original'. You are free to
copy/sell, etc. _your_ "createive work" without let or permission from
the 'rights holder' in that _other_ work.

Other answers state
that various pieces follow the same basic principles, i.e the design of
a wardrobe is the same on many levels but there are many variants.

Factually accurate, and *very* relevant

So whats the opinion of the group. Maybe I'll share it with my friend
next time I'm down the pub. Yes, the debate started over pint.


The authoritative answer is: "It depends".

This holds for virtually *ALL* questions involving copyright issues, BTW. )

Yes, there *can* be copyright involved in a piece of furniture.

However, copyright applies *ONLY* to the elements that are "unique creative
effort" in that piece.

"Approaching the store", with the intent of copying is _not_ illegal

Actually _doing_ the copying, +may+ or *may*not*, infringe on a copyright,
if there is one. There is a '*DEEP* swamp' of copyright law, called
'fair use exemptions' -- under which you _can_ reproduce something protected
by copyright, *without* the copyright owner's permission, and *without*
infringing on their copyright.

*IF* there is a copyright involved on that piece of furniture, one then
gets into _why_ one is 'copying'/'reproducing' it --

for your own 'personal use', is _probably_ O.K.

for sale to someone else, is pretty-much guaranteed *not* O.K.


As a practical matter, with 'generic' mass-produced furniture, the issue
of copyright is not likely to arise. Pretty much 'by definition' there are
no 'unique' design features to point to.

Copying a "Sam Maloof" chair, on the other hand...... grin

Along the same lines -- if you 'study' (with your tape measure, that is
several 'representative' pieces, from several different manufacturers, extract
the 'common elements' from those, modify in a way to suit _your_ needs, then
there is -no- issue of copyright infringement in the piece that you end up
constructing.

"Stealing from one source is called plagiarism.
Stealing from two or more is called research."

"Research" your project well, and don't worry about it.