Re: Registering Fly Patterns
I am a songwriter and very familiar with US Copyright Law. You can't copyright a fly pattern.
Here is an excerpt from the US Copyright Act
? 102. Subject matter of copyright: In general26
(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:
(1) literary works;
(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;
(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;
(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
(7) sound recordings; and
(8) architectural works.
(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.
A fly pattern would be a procedure. You can't copyright recipes either.
I'm fairly certain that you can't get a Patent for a fly pattern either. To qualify for a patent, it has to be a new and 'unobvious' invention or idea. A fly pattern is simply a different way of using something that already exists. Here is an excerpt from the US Patent Office:
The requirement of unobviousness means that the differences between the invention and the prior public knowledge in its technical field must be such that a person having ordinary skill in this field would not have found the invention obvious at the time it was made. The proper subject matter of a patent is any product, process, apparatus or composition, including living matter such as genetically engineered bacteria or plants. Special provisions also permit patents directed to certain distinct and new varieties of plants (Plant Patent) and new original and ornamental designs for articles of manufacture (Design Patent). Purely mental processes, newly discovered laws of nature and methods of doing business are not proper subjects for a patent
Semper Fi!
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
Have you thought of making it "The Fly of the Week" here on FAOL?
Rick
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Z
Have you thought of making it "The Fly of the Week" here on FAOL?
Rick
If it were me, I would publish a fly pattern here first...there is no way someone could claim a pattern published here was "their pattern": everyone (and I mean everyone) would now better.
The only bad thing about publishing them on FAOL is there is immediate feedback like "we used use a pattern like that back in the 70's".
Heeeeey....wait a minute.... :idea:
I changed my mind, I wouldn't publish them here first. ;)
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
Kayakfish,
Look in the Fly Fish America magazine. Al & Gretchen Beatty publish pictures and tying directions of flies that people send in. Be prepared to wait, I sent mine in back in 2004. Still waiting.
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
another person thatg might have insight to this would be Fran Betters creator of the ausable wolf, usual, and haystack flies . you can get in touch with him through his web site at http://ausablewulff.com/
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
once anybody publishes a fly in any one of the fly tying/fishing magazines, what keeps average joe flytier from tying your pattern (with absolutely no change whatsoever and using the name of the pattern) and making some cash???
anybody right now can take the current fly of the week (as an example) and tie them up to his hearts content and sell them for a profit.
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
Normand,
Probably nothing but a persons personal sense of honor and integrity.
Buddy
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
This topic confuses me a bit. When one buys a fly, are we paying for the particulars of a pattern, or for the person that tied it for you and the materials? If I tie up a dozen pheasant tails and sell them at the local fly shop am I breaking some law? Am I unethical? How many materials do I have to change to make it legal. How about if I tie left handed and all the wraps are in the opposite direction?
If I read techniques on making furled leaders , make some, and then sell them am I unethical. How about if I build picnic table out of lumber and sell it? I think you get my point.
Please help enlighten me.
Thanks,
Keith
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
I tie for a fly shop, and I copy patterns that they have bought from a supplyer,
I also tie some patterns that I have developed, and tell customers how to tie them and which materials I use. Anyone can copy any fly. Unless someone tells me they have a patten on an fly and a Lawyer tell me to stop I will continue to copy.
Re: Registering Fly Patterns
It's of course up to each individual to decide.
What I prefer to do, if I want to 'sell' a fly, is to only 'sell' flies that I have substantially changed from the 'standard' or flies that I have 'developed' or improved myself (I've seldom seen anything completely 'new' in fly tying, so everything is surely derivative). Even if these are 'based' on a fly I've seen elsewhere, I won't sell them unless I feel I've improved them substantially over the 'model'.
I prefer not to tie 'standard' flies that have established recipes, except for my own use. Plenty of folks out there who do that, and do it quite well.
I will certainly copy ANY fly that I see and like for my personal use. Figuring out how to duplicate a pattern WITHOUT a recipe is something I really enjoy doing.
Others have to decide for themselves. I doubt there is a 'moral certainty' available here.
Good Luck!
Buddy