Re: technical drawings

My thanks to everyone who made suggestions on my issue. I have done some further research and I think the following statements are true:

1. Toys are copyrightable because they are not "useful" object. (There is at least one case on toy airplanes which are designed to ignite a child's imagination, not to transport anything or anyone.)
2. Toy vessel hulls are probably not protected by the Vessel Hull provisions of the DMCA because the definition of "vessel" in the statute is "a craft, especially one larger than a rowboat" (but smaller than 200 ft. I think it was).
3. Without the provisions of the DMCA Vessel Hull Copyright section, the shape of a boat hull is probably not copyrightble as it would be extremely difficult to separate out the aesthetic from the functional aspects of the hull. It would better be protected by a design patent.
4. There's nothing out there that controls the transition from toy vessel hull to full sized vessel hull. I think it may be an untried issue. At least I couldn't find anything that covered it.

If anyone sees anything that's not right about those statements, please let me know and if you know of any statute or caselaw that discusses an existing copyright in the diagram of a toy boat and whether the manufacture of a full sized boat based on the same design infringes the toy boat copyright, please let me know.

Thanks,
Carol Cricow

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Carol Busby Cricow
Attorney at Law
Post Office Box 22438
Eugene, Oregon  97402
541-484-6860; Fax: 541-484-3099
e-mail:  carol[_at_]yujean.com