TOPIC:

Hi there,
Does anyone know of any legal issues that could arise from creating reproduction decal sets?, I'm a graphic designer based in Tokyo and have spent the past couple of hours with a scan of a Super Hornet decal set re-drawing it in Illustrator (tasty lossless vector format).

It's more of a hobby thing for me, and rather than set up an eBay shop hawking off poor quality decal sets like a lot of people (especially when based in china it seems) seem to be doing, I would rather just freely share high quality decal set images in AI (illustrator) and high resolution PNG for others in the hobby to use freely and print for their own uses.

I see only two issues with doing this, one being the potential legal problems and the second being unscrupulous types basically using the files to print and sell their own decal sets, pretending to have been the ones to make it.

I'm aware that it's fairly common for people to step up and label themselves a designer, so I'd rather let my work speak for itself, here's a decent quality shot of the Super Hornet logo, I am planning to do the entire decal sheet in the correct colors, proportions and so on, including the original cut markers and decal numbering.



I suppose another potential solution would be for the site owner or any affiliated site, or someone with a trusted, reputable site to get in touch with me and work together in offering these decals for sale at respectable prices, so enthusiasts have a reputable, reliable and above all, trustworthy supplier of high quality reproduction decals.

I am all ears if any of you have input on the matter.

I suppose Tamiya have the right to protect their intellectual property, but as someone who wants replacement decals for various rebuilds, I'm still angry that their actions have made it impossible to freely/publicly buy decent quality reproductions when not even re-release sets with the lamo version "sponsor" decals are available for certain cars ... did Tamiya really intend my only options to be making my own (which they don't make any money from either), doing without (ditto), or using cruddy eBay decals (ditto again)?

I don't get why those that sold good quality decals (TamiyaClub, ScreenPrintDigital) were cracked down on, but eBay sellers weren't/aren't ... it's inexplicable to me that a certain seller on eBay UK (their name keeps changing, but they are located in Dartford) is allowed to keep selling absolute garbage (colours that should be printed on clear actually printed on white, decals that appear to have been cut out with a spoon & have a whole sheet of clear slapped on, etc etc), not have listings removed when they're reported, AND get a lot of positive feedback for their wares.



Anyway ... I think it's inevitable that if you make your files publicly available that some scumbag(s) will make prints from & profit by your work - but given the likely quality of those prints perhaps you'd rather they didn't give you credit anyway

If you did want to make the files available I don't think it's particularly likely that Tamiya or their goons would go after you - but they might go after whoever's hosting the files.

TBH I think I'd keep the files to yourself, and if anyone asks you privately about them, you can assess whether or not you want to share. You might also think about contacting Jez at ScreenPrintDigital regarding his experience about selling repro decals in the past, being clamped down on, and whether the situation might change in the future nudge nudge wink wink

Think you should keep it in the range of a need to now base and dont go too public on the offering of print ready files. (would be interrested in some though )

On tamiyaclub I think just your question would have been a violation

But as Jonny points out, friendly service will get abused and if your unlucky even get blamed in the end.

You could maybe do an instruction on how one could do his own conversion of normal graphic to printable vectors. (ok yes sofar been to lazy to figur it out) Have been wanting to make my own set of TF evo and Willy Wheeler Decals in different colors and with the Numbers seperated and get them in quality print.

Thumbs up for the effort. But I agree with Jonny and wb - I'd restrict sharing to a close circle.
Unlikely any site (with serious roots) would start selling them, it has been quite the issue :

www.tamiyabase....mitstart=0

I've been thinking about this...
I can't see how Tamiya could prevent someone selling decal sheets with vintage sponsor logos in general.
On most vintage Tamiya Decal sheets, the logos and decals are to a large extent known brand names (at the time), not owned by Tamiya. Hence, Tamiya does not have any IP to them.

But, there is still the graphics, like stripes, wing emblems, etc, that Tamiya would have IP on (or do they? , I'm not sure)

Screenprint Digital are selling "generic" decal sheets, but they are not using the tamiya logo/name in promoting the decals.

Here is one of them.

-Lars

larbut wrote:

...

Screenprint Digital are selling "generic" decal sheets, but they are not using the tamiya logo/name in promoting the decals.

Here is one of them.

....

I recognise that car

I thought I'd share my 2 cents worth . I do a lot of film/movie props and we come across copyright issues quite a lot, especially on America movies. Firstly I doubt you would have any issues in just recreating individual logos, as they are owned by the company and not Tamiya. Also if you google a company name and logo, you will quite often find the vector artwork for free, so it would be pointless for them to pursue you anyway. When I did my Audi Quattro stickers, I found about 90% of the stickers this way.

Tamiya would own the copyright on the decal sheet though, and especially on any custom vehicle design, but it would only be very narrow copyright for something like a copy of an actual car like the audi quattro. However Tamiya's copyright will eventually expire. An example are world war 2 maps and other prints. We have made a number for some shows, and we are free to recreate any government issued map as they are out of copyright. This means we can even copy a reproduction that we have bought, and make our own copies from that, and even on sell them without any problem.

On selling stuff - as an example with my movie work we have gathered over the last 15 to 20 yrs a lot of reference on various pieces of artwork, things like reference on wine and jar labels, cereal boxes etc. Most of this I cannot sell in any way, but I can sell access to it. I think this would be the same for Tamiya's decal sheets, in that it could be freely offered, sold on a DVD, offered as part of a membership, but the actual artwork can't be sold.

With re-creating artwork, I personally don't have a problem with helping setting up a database of vectorised artwork, but would prefer to see it behind some sort of payed wall, like a membership fee. Sure people will copy it, and produce prints from it for sale, but if everyone has access, it should still level the playing field a little. Plus most repos will still suck as the cheap ones use inferior vinyl and inks. Which reminds me, I also need to finish off part B of my article on methods for making hi-res decals !

Lastly, even operating within the law, Tamiya may still decide to jump on you, and since the have deeper pockets than any smaller guy will like us, it will usually mean caving in. This is why we have a legal system and not a justice system.

As a side note, I wonder if they leave the dodgy sellers alone to give the impression that all are all bad,

anyway, that was long enough, time to finish.