Intellectual Property - What would you do?

[airlair]

I feel your pain because what you are going through is something I went through with my bar. It is very difficult to keep a line between friendship and business. When I first got my bar my friends were like "Dude that's awesome we'll be there all the time." Well at first they were because they figured that I would never charge them. That made me laugh because I would see these guys drop tons of money when we would go out to other bars, but they looked at me like I asked them to f*ck their sister when I charged them at my ghetto bar which is a hell of a lot cheaper than the bars where we live. So I also lost a few friends because of that but I had bills to pay, and if they truly were friends they wouldn't try to take advantage of the situation. So my advice is stick to your guns and tell those cheap bastards to kiss your <Insert specific ethnic group here> ass.

 

[Oryk Zinyo]

I think I would consider who is asking before making the final decision to part with my plans. Some members here, and in my local collector community, I trust others I don't. I would never sell anything copyable to the guys I don't trust.


Another thing to consider, will this guy actually do anything with the plans?

 

[Alpha-tron]

It sounds like you running a business, If so run it like a business, friends who want you to go broke are no friends in deed. In my business only friends who help me move deserve a discount not freebies. I have developed many consumer products that made millionaires out of the inventors. Trust me keeping things under wraps is important.

I am already having issues with some art work. This helping out a buddy thing has already bit me on the behind and frankly given me a sour taste into helping others. I would not be having these issues if I was treating this like a business.

Charge a fair price for your work, Reward those who helped you. Ignore the free loaders..

 

[FrizzleFried]

Friends who take advantage of you regardless of whether they take advantage of you personally or in business are not friends worth having.

 

[SuperSprint]

Friends who take advantage of you regardless of whether they take advantage of you personally or in business are not friends worth having.

Corrected that a bit.

 

[Bellybuttons]

Follow your Moral Compass, Not many people have them.

Personally you should help when you can.

But don't give till it hurts...Physically, Emotionally or Finically

 

[TERMINATOR]

Sounds to me like you spent to much time and money in research and developement to just give it away. Hook a brother up and give him a sheet of paper with pictures and directions on how to go pound sand!!!

 

[Zitt]

My take - it's your work. do what you want.

I tend to error on the side of "helping" people out but release designs / info.
Pinball-Mods.Com is a perfect example of me providing information to the public via license.

IF you really want to help a bro out; assign a TAPR non-commerical or simular license to it before your release it.

Good plans can co-exist with for profit biz... look at MakerBot or simular opensource CNC-type machines.

 

[Phetishboy]

Yeah I know how you feel to a certain extent. Vectorizing art, either custom or redraw, tends to bring out the "hey, though I didn't contribute a single thing to help you out, now that it's all done and cleaned up can you send me the file to have printed for myself?" guys. I guess it depends on what your end goal was for doing the work in the first place.

 

[SuperSprint]

I said this in the 7" monitor thread, and I'll throw it out here. I have no problem paying a fellow member for their time, product, etc. If they needed a monitor and I needed art, most of us would trade in a minute. So why the big hangup with throwing them some $$$ so they can buy whatever it is they need.

If you think about it, this is why money was invented. Mike has art, but wants a monitor. You want art, but have a steering wheel. Joe needs a steering wheel, but has a PacMan board. Mike needs a PacMan board, but only has a logic tester. Do you want to coordinate this 17 way swap just to get your side art? Not no, but **** no... So you sell your steering wheel to Joe (for money) and buy the art from Mike (for money). Everybody wins...

 

[DPtwiz]

wow.. i had to read all this twice to get a good grasp of it, and i'm still not sure i do I assume it's about it me to some extent. I do make cabinets, i do my own copying/vectoring, make notes on all the things you need to know to recreate an original, and i have to usually buy an original to have to start the process.

Yes, i waste wood sometimes when i try to reproduce a cabinet, you can't be 100% perfect all the time, as hard as we all try. Yes i do sell my vectored files, and it's for a couple of reasons.
1- to make a little extra money. I only charge 150.00 for a vectored, ready to cut vector file. If you look at it from the standpoint of your going to cut several and sell a few, take for instance Quantum. It's about 150.00 in wood, and another 25- 30 in vinyl (for the white melamine) add in staples, leg levelers, plates, electricity, and time, and your not making a ton of money. I sell them for 400.00 probably have 200.00 in materials and utilities, and it takes me about 8 hours from start to finish.

2 - another reason i sell the files, is i really do want everyone to have reasonable access to new cabinets. It helps the hobby, i look at it as a contribution. While it's not a free contribution, it's just as much as someone who makes metal control panels so you don't have to put up with rusty ones. Or the people who make art, so when your done repairing and painting a game, you can make it factory fresh.

I sell my files to people who don't live near me, so others can get the same great stuff as those who do live near me. Also, when i sell my files to someone else, i make the deal that they don't share, sell, give away, or post my files online. In return, i won't sell my files to anyone in thier state, or a state that borders them, to help protect thier investment. Bitslicer, your in Florida, i have sold my files to anyone around you, so your welcome to purchase the Quantum plans if you'd like, and i won't sell my quantum plans to anyone else in florida or a surrounding state.

Hope i wasn't too long winded, just wanted to make it clear where i stood. Remember, i did give away freely the mspac cocktail vectors to anyone who wanted them, that Chris moore did, as he posted on his file, not to be sold, so i provided the cut ready files free of charge.

 

[bit_slicer]

You make cabinets???

wow.. i had to read all this twice to get a good grasp of it, and i'm still not sure i do I assume it's about it me to some extent. I do make cabinets, i do my own copying/vectoring, make notes on all the things you need to know to recreate an original, and i have to usually buy an original to have to start the process.

Yes, i waste wood sometimes when i try to reproduce a cabinet, you can't be 100% perfect all the time, as hard as we all try. Yes i do sell my vectored files, and it's for a couple of reasons.
1- to make a little extra money. I only charge 150.00 for a vectored, ready to cut vector file. If you look at it from the standpoint of your going to cut several and sell a few, take for instance Quantum. It's about 150.00 in wood, and another 25- 30 in vinyl (for the white melamine) add in staples, leg levelers, plates, electricity, and time, and your not making a ton of money. I sell them for 400.00 probably have 200.00 in materials and utilities, and it takes me about 8 hours from start to finish.

2 - another reason i sell the files, is i really do want everyone to have reasonable access to new cabinets. It helps the hobby, i look at it as a contribution. While it's not a free contribution, it's just as much as someone who makes metal control panels so you don't have to put up with rusty ones. Or the people who make art, so when your done repairing and painting a game, you can make it factory fresh.

I sell my files to people who don't live near me, so others can get the same great stuff as those who do live near me. Also, when i sell my files to someone else, i make the deal that they don't share, sell, give away, or post my files online. In return, i won't sell my files to anyone in thier state, or a state that borders them, to help protect thier investment. Bitslicer, your in Florida, i have sold my files to anyone around you, so your welcome to purchase the Quantum plans if you'd like, and i won't sell my quantum plans to anyone else in florida or a surrounding state.

Hope i wasn't too long winded, just wanted to make it clear where i stood. Remember, i did give away freely the mspac cocktail vectors to anyone who wanted them, that Chris moore did, as he posted on his file, not to be sold, so i provided the cut ready files free of charge.

 

[DPtwiz]

You make cabinets???

 

[Alpha-tron]

Hope i wasn't too long winded, just wanted to make it clear where i stood

Very well put. Plus one to rep..

 

[bit_slicer]

No it wasn't about you, or cabinets, or plans. It was just an analogy. Sorry if it interpreted differently.

 

[joeycuda]

You make cabinets???

Not sure if you're kidding, and if you are serious, I somehow never got the impression that you made cabinets?

 

[sosage]

Late to the discussion, but as an artist I can relate. You put in the work to draw out those vectors on your own time. They're yours. No one hired you to draw those plans for them. You don't owe anyone anything as far as handing the source files over (which is a door you can't go back through once you've leaked them).

This is all under the impression that there are no copyright issues involved (supposedly, there is none).

 

[bradd]

if one of my "friends" expected something like that from me i doubt i would even dignify it with an answer unless i already knew them to be lacking in the logic dept. same goes for the dude who owns a bar, shit when my friends have a business i want to give them my money because they are my friends! i wouldnt let them pay out their own pocket to serve me.

 

[cnlmoore]

Hey Brett, I didn't know you were giving away the ms pac CT plans for free. Thanks for doing that. I remember when Kyle and I first released those ages ago, they ended up on eBay of all places. People will do anything to make a buck.

 

[Alpha-tron]

Hey Brett, I didn't know you were giving away the ms pac CT plans for free. Thanks for doing that. I remember when Kyle and I first released those ages ago, they ended up on eBay of all places. People will do anything to make a buck.

I just want to say thanks.
I think I download it and printed it out. It was fun to reading for us guys during lunch.
Not like most of the guys would go out and build one but they did admire the work involved.