Molds and legalities

[Stanislaus]

Question for the group. If I purchase a mold from someone how does this work legally. The owner of the mold may not necessarily be the owner of the design. So.. can the design owner sue me after I create boats from the mold I legally purchased, but still based on his legally owned design?? I would think if the mold is up for grabs there is no problem but I dont know.

Thanks
Stanislaus

[REZART LAMAJ]

I Want To Now More Abot The Metal Of Hull Construction

[FAST FRED]

The hull , and boat design are legally owned by the orig designer, not who ever sprung a mold.

Coppy right laws are very specific , and long lasting well past the death of the originator.

However the only cases I have heard of where legal action was taken was where some company wanted to crank out product , from some old mold.

Never hears of a single INDIVIDUAL being hasseled for stealing someones lifes work.

But it would NOT be wise to contact the orig designer to ask questions.

FAST FRED

[gfinishline]

Do you know (in fact) that the design you are looking at is someone elses? Can you 'nail down' the facts (from the seller and others) about the mold, it's origin, and the original design? I have had one original design, and one 'modified' design stolen from me. The legal advise that I got was to forget about it, the costs to "see it thru" would break me. Both of the people that ripped me off did very well with the boats (made a ton of money) and both had very bad things happen to them (personally). I did not do anything to them, but God (Karma) has a way of showing us the "thumbs up or down" at just the right moment. One day I was reminded of one of the "thieves", while I was explaining part of my design to a friend, when it hit me. I suddenly got a great idea, and a few days later I tested my idea, and now it will be in my newest design. I still hate the guy for ripping me off, so I guess I have learned to control my anger. (that's good isn't it?)

[gsdickes]

I'm not a lawyer, but I think the issue is who owns the production license. If the designer sold or gave the production license to the current owner of the mold, and he can in turn sell it to you, no problem. The way I (and I think most others) do it on serial production boats is grant a perpetual production license in exchange for royalty payments of x percent per hull. If the royalty payments are up to date, the license to keep producing boats remains granted. If the royalty payments are not made, license to produce boats terminates.

I encourage you to go ahead and look up the designer either way. I agree that absent some specific transfer of ownership of the design itself in the chain of documents, the design still belongs to the designer. Better to get his (or her) blessing now than have him (or her) angry and chasing you legally after you've sold your 100th boat.

[boat182]

Are you still looking? I am closing down my boat company and selling my molds. Contact me if you are interested.

Jay
compassboats.com
956-237-8075

[gfinishline]

Thanks for the message. Can you post pix of the boats, number of pieces of molds per boat and prices? I am looking for 20'+, to 36'+. Thank you in advance, George, Finish Line Engineering Corp. Lake Havasu City Az. USA

[boat182]

Send me your e-mail address so that I can send the information to you. You can e-mail me directly at jay@compassboats.com or contact me at 956-237-8075.

Jay