Hi All;
A question came up on another site I belong to: Can/does anyone copywrite fly patterns??
Thanks in advance;
Wayneb
Hi All;
A question came up on another site I belong to: Can/does anyone copywrite fly patterns??
Thanks in advance;
Wayneb
Seems I’v seen this topic b-4 along time ago, or read it some where else. I believe the response being that so many flie are so close together that to copy write one would be a copy of some sort of another. Something along those lines. Perhaps from book printing copywrites etc.
Like Grubb, I think was covered earlier in another thread. I think that you could copyright a name of a fly (good luck enforcing it) but you would probably have to patent the specific design. The problem with that is any slight variation of the design and it’s outside the patent making it very difficult to enforce. Finally, I 'm not sure fly designs are a valuable enough commodity and the cost of enforcement would be more than any lost proceeds.
TxEngr
You bet; way back in '02 this appeared. Give 'er a look-see.
http://colo2.flyanglersonline.com/cst/cst061002.php
Some people have done so over the years. While it is possible to patent a fly, copyright or “register” a name or a specific pattern in a lot of places, it hardly seems worth the bother. You can theoretically stop people from selling such flies or using the name you registered, but it is expensive, and you would doubtless need to sell a lot of flies to cover such expenses. Also, you can?t stop people dressing such flies for their own use anyway.
These flies were patented ( in 1994 as I recall);
http://www.waterwisp.com/info.htm
With regard to copyright, any thing you write is copyrighted automatically, as are some other works like photos, etc. If you register various works, then you can also defend that copyright more easily in a court of law. This is only usually worthwhile for people who write books, music, write articles for magazines, etc etc. for money.
TL
MC
Hi All;
Thanks for the replies, I was more curious than anything else. What started my curiousity is a discussion on another site concerning a tier taking credit for anothers design.
My response there was that the flyfishing/fly tying community is fairly well connected and with the advent of the internet and sites like this, even more so. So, if someone were to take credit for another’s creation, they would have a difficult time getting away with it.
Wayneb
People have been “stealing” other people?s stuff for centuries!
One common occurrence is somebody changing one or two materials, or just the hackle colour or similar on a fly, and calling it something else. In point of fact, there is not really much true innovation, most stuff is based on something else.
This still goes on a lot, and there is a lot of discussion about it. It only makes a real difference to most, ( and you can only claim damages if you can prove loss of income or similar) when they are commercially involved.
There is also an easy way to avoid it. Give it away!
Nowadays angling is an equipment intensive “high tech” pastime for many, as indeed is fly-dressing, and has become extremely commercialised. It is a large industry in itself. People also spend a great deal of money on stuff. This tempts various people to do all sorts of things for the money involved. There are also a lot of people who want the “status” or “credit” associated with having a fly named after them, or being credited with its invention.
A “true” angler who fishes or dresses for pleasure wont usually care much, and shares his stuff to give others pleasure, ( thereby also increasing his own),not to make money at it, or gain spurious kudos.
TL
MC
Michael Fortune is a Canadian furniture designer/maker from Toronto. I took a design seminar from him many years ago and someone asked how he protected his designs (very real and worthy designs with significant developmental advantages) and I still giggle at his answer…
Roughly, he said “If I thought it was going to be the last good idea I would ever have I might worry about that. But I just have to keep thinking about what I am doing.”
There are many examples of guys going to great lengths to protect fly patterns… Pheasant tail nymphs come to mind… and it has to be a joke…
art
hap, and therefore you understand my column on it.
(you might notice the 404 page is not a standard one either)
I have actually had guys think the column was real. Oh well,
Years ago in New Zealand, a fellow designed a fly which he called a “Tiger Ross” (his name being Ross). It was a matuku style fly, and is still one of the most popular patterns in NZ. It’s quite similar to a Parson’s Glory but the wing is made from badger hackles, and the head is red. Anyway, because he owned a tackle shop he copywrited the name so he could be the only one to sell it.
But, all that did was cause the other retailers to simply tie the fly and sell it under the name “Taupo Tiger”, which is what most people know it as today.
There’s a lesson in there.
True enough, Jeff. It seems when anyone does any deep research on a “new” fly they find something very similar that has already been done. I think one of the last big arenas of development left today is salt water, and even there folks are building on a lot of established bait patterns.
The only way you could patent a fly pattern is if you came up with a new material, or method of making one, and the patent would only cover the material, or method, not the pattern itself.
A fly pattern is the same as a recipe. They are not copywritable. Niether are formulas or other ‘lists’ because the ingredients are already invented.
And even if you could devise a new method, such as Polaris has, the patent is only for a specific period of time, usually 20 years. It is so the patent holder can try to recover the development expenses through temporary exclusive marketing. And of course, the government can waive a patent if it wants to use the product, such as in the devolpment of nuclear weapons. They are immune from lawsuits.
This was a problem between Colt and Smith and Wesson in the latter 19th century. That’s why cartridge revolvers were not manufactured in quantity until after Colt’s, Remington’s, and Smiths patents ran out in the 1870s. The designs were perfected in the 1860s, but Colt had the patent on the major engineering, Remington had the solid frame patent, and Smith had the bored-through-cylinder and fixed ammunition patents, and none of them would work together. This was probably a good thing. Otherwise the War For Southern Independence would’ve been even worse than it was, with the use of machine guns (invented in the 1850s by John Browning), hand grenades (invented in 1851), repeating firearms (invented in the 1850s), and land-mines (invented in the 1850s). For once, government short-sightedness was a blessing.
So, all this is just to illustrate why you can’t realistically copywrite a fly pattern. But, you can post it here, and I’m sure we will all make sure the credit goes where it belongs. And, you’d be a shoe-in for Fly Of The Week. Personally, I consider the kudos of my fellow Tyers a much greater honor than being assigned a number, to sit in some dusty file cabinet in Washington until someone wants to use it against me.