do i need a copyright?

Can't tell, because I don't know what country you're in.

Generally though (for most countries), you can't copyright a creative design, but you can copyright a _description_ of it, such as a drawing.

Copyright of this drawing is automatic. But to make life easier if you ever need to defend it, get some dated and notarised copies of it into a safe place. You don't usually need to "register" a copyright and most such schemes are simple scams (this varies by country). It may be difficult though to defend against a copy of your design, if the copier can demonstrate they haven't seen your description of it.

Some countries may also have "registered design" options for you. This can cost money though, a small amount of you do the paperwork yourself, a large amount for lawyers to do it. Registered designs are generally protected for a shorter period than copyright.

IMHE, lawyers (of the commonplace "high street" variety) are ignorant and useless on copyright law 8-(

If you're in the UK, where I am, feel free to ask more.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Are you wanting to keep others from creating the same thing? If so, you need a design patent. Copyrights are for the written word and pretty much useless unless you register the copyright.

Go to

and read up on it. This is the US patent and Tradmark official US government web site. You will want to search for design patents. Design patents protect your design. Utility patents do not apply because they protect the "Utility" or what the item does.

To file a design patent you have to give exact dimentions of your design. Therefore if anyone makes the exact same thing, ony a different size, your design patent will not stop him. Take the time to read it yourself from the web page. Different people interpret these things differently so you need to really understand what you are doing or you will waste your cash.

Research Trademarks here also but they will probably not apply to your situation.

A Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of original works of authorship. The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly.

In other words, usless to you for your creations. You can research copyrights at

Basically, unless you make a unique design from everyone else and make the EXACTLY the same every time, you probably will not be able to secure any protection.

RESEARCH it yourself and then decide what to do, don't listen to hearsay. The fees for patents and trademarks are pretty steep (find them on the web site) and you may spend money that you do not need to.

I have three utility patents and I can tell you that all three of mine took six months to write and submit and another three years to go through the system and get granted. It can be a process you might not want to pursue.

Good luck

Bob

No, you don't NEED to copyright them. You can make iron dinosaurs and so can anyone else. It seems to me that copyrighting an iron dinosaur would be like painting a scene and them copyrighting the painting so that no one else could ever paint that same scene. (Won't work)

Many, many people have made iron dinosaurs, including my son. He has made them from as small as 18 inches high to 39 FEET high, with many sizes in between. It seems to me that if you WANT to Protect something, you would need to take an irrefutably unique approach to the design of the structure or something like that. If you cut out the parts on a CNC plasma table, you might consider copyrighting the code, but someone taking a different approach to the same problem might be totally safe.

I think you are in for a lot of pretty muchn wasted work. Maybe better to put the effort into marketing your company, or your skills.

Pete

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paul m escude wrote:

Why on earth would you want to patent or copyright a dinosaur design? The "big guy" who originally designed them allowed the designs to become part of the public domain. :-) There will not be anyone out there who will want to go into commercial production making your dinos, and patents do not protect you from a guy making them and putting them all over his property for his own private use. Also, if some business really wanted to make them in mass, they would probably have them made in China or India, and you couldn't do anything about it anyway. Don't waste your time...go make dinos and enjoy working iron.

Ron

s/dino/stork/ and someone is already doing it, to a well-known UK smith.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

1 - "Dino" from "Flintstones" (Hanna-Barbera) 2 - "Barney" from "Barney and Friends" (HIT Entertainment) 3 - "Aladar" from Disney's "Dinosuars" (Disney has *naaaasty* lawyers) 4 - "Gertie the Dinosaur" by Winsor McCay, 1914 5 - "Littlefoot" from Universal's "The Land Before Time" (and various sequels) 6 - "Rex" from "Toy Story 2" (see note 3 about Disney's lawers) 7 - The entire "Sinclair family" from the TV series "Dinosaurs" (Jim Henson Productions)

I believe that "Trademark Infringement" laws are what apply to this stuff.