"Lord Reginald Smithers" Ask me about my driveway leading up to my manor.
wrote in message ...
Kevin,
It is not "MY" position that you need to obtain permission to republish
copyrighted material, it is the law.


wrote in message
ups.com...

*JimH* wrote:
From http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/dec05/375571.asp
================================================== ============
Bill in Congress takes aim at 'hull splashing' in boat industry
By RICK BARRETT
Posted: Dec. 5, 2005
It's called "hull splashing" when a boat builder makes an unauthorized
copy
of a hull design and calls it his own.

With a little luck, Wisconsin marine manufacturers say, proposed changes
to
a federal law would end the practice that's bothered them for decades.

Senate Bill 1785 is meant to strengthen the Vessel Hull Design
Protection
Act passed by Congress seven years ago but lacking in some important
areas,
according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association, a
Chicago-based
trade group.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.). Under it,
hull
splashers could no longer copy a design, make a couple of cosmetic
changes
and call the design their original work.

"It's surprisingly easy" to copy a finished boat hull, she said.
Copiers
use the completed hull to create a mold and special tooling. The mold is
then used to produce multiple hulls of the same design.



Companies such as Genmar Holdings Inc., which makes Carver yachts in
Pulaski, have been dogged by hull splashing, said Irwin Jacobs, company
chairman.

Genmar is one of the world's largest builders of recreational boats.
Every
year, the company fires off "cease and desist" letters to manufacturers
that
are copying its hull designs.

"They generally pull back and stop, once they know we are aware of it,"
Jacobs said. "But we have also taken some people to the mat over this,"
including suing them for copyright infringement.

The federal law protecting hull designs isn't strong enough and is
cumbersome for manufacturers to use, said David Marlow, a director of
product integrity with Brunswick Corp., a Lake Forest, Ill.,
conglomerate
that makes Sea Ray, Boston Whaler, Crestliner and other popular boat
brands.

"It's hard to say how many of our hull designs have been splashed in the
past," Marlow said. "But we have seen examples of it, and I suspect it's
a
fairly widespread practice" that chases the top-selling designs.

Brunswick, which also owns outboard engine maker Mercury Marine Inc., of
Fond du Lac, spent about $25 million in research and development of
boating
products in 2004.

==============================

Did you ask for permission from the author to post this? According to
one of your circle jerk buddies, Smithers, you must obtain direct
permission from the author. Or is that just another of the examples of
you and your circle jerk club don't have to, but the ones you don't
agree with must?? Pretty childish, wouldn't you say?