Australian MSTS @ steam4me Copyright Issues Affecting Models for MS Train Simulator

Copyright Issues Affecting Models for MS Train Simulator

by Yuri Sos

Introduction

Over the past eighteen months, there has been much debate within the Australian MSTS community regarding the issues of copyright. The recent increased aggressive behaviour by the Government in matters copright along with tighter provisions in the recently amended legislation have made model-building a far more complicated issue.

The "gimme pigs" can squeal as much as they like, but the law is the law and you can fail to comply at your own peril. On a personal note, I'm disgusted with the selfishness of some of the posters online and some of the emails I've received in their attitude to the issues of copyright and fairness, as they impatiently scramble to find or distribute copies of the temporarily withdrawn software. To you, I say "may your computer chips fry!".

I'll present here a summary of my interpretation of what I have learned in over 16 months of reading and a consultation with my legal people on the issues of copyright and design - unfortunately, some of the areas are "grey" and advice received in some cases has been "well we'd need to test that in court". No thank you.

References and further reading

Whilst these references provide general information, you should satisfy yourself that your finished model will not contravene any specific issues: in other words "Your mileage May Vary" and you are responsible for your own creations.
  1. What is intellectual property?
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  2. Design Search
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  3. Information Sheets - Australian Copyright Council
    (all are in PDF form with the title GOxx.pdf where xx is a unique identifying number)
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The Shape - A Design Issue

The shape of the rolling stock, whether locomotive or wagon, must have been designed and planned by an engineer or a draughtsman and one would expect that the plans are therefore subject to copyright.

However, reference #1 above states, inter alia, Copyright is lost if the owner applies a three-dimensional artistic work industrially. In such a case, it is necessary to register the design if protection is required."

It would appear that unless the design is registered you are able to construct a model of an existing item of rolling stock or any other industrial appliance (however, texturing this model with a logo will create an entirely different issue). Use the search link (reference #2 above) and search for railway, or narrow it down with terms such as train, locomotive, rolling stock, carriage, wagon, railway wagon and so on. Many designs return with a Status of "Currently Not Renewed".

Here's an example to follow:

  1. Let's search for a "locomotive"! Note: you can Right-click | View Image on each image for a larger view.

  2. A series of results appear.......

  3. Let's pick one - this looks like an Endeavour or Xplorer......

  4. The first screen that appears is the Representations Screen: scroll to the bottom of the page (page is larger than screen so top/bottom are overlaid).....

  5. ...... and click on Status: now we can see that the owner has not renewed the design since 1999. It appears that the design registration has been allowed to lapse. Even if the design was renewed, it can only be renewed twice for a period of five years each time - this means the design would have lapsed in any case by Oct 2008.

Logos - A Copyright And/Or Trademark Issue

This section in preparation (the other sections are simple by comparison).

Moral rights

Quite apart from any other considerations, creators of artistic or industrial-design works have “moral rights” in relation to their works. These are separate from copyright. Moral rights impose certain obligations on people who use these works.

The owner has the right to:

1 May 2008