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> If it's a copy of someone else's Lego model (or equivalent) that's not your work and would infringe theirs. If I build the lego plane in the example above ou

> If it's a copy of someone else's Lego model (or equivalent) that's not your work and would infringe theirs. If I build the lego plane in the example above out of Lego bricks I own, have I infringed on Lego's copyright? (I don't think they own a copyright on the configuration of the bricks, or else, it would be really hard to police, wouldn't it? Everyone that builds that model would be infringing!)

extra88 6y ago
The company has a copyright on the sculptures shown in the examples provided but are clearly meant to be replicated for your personal use and enjoyment. If you built a lot of sculptures matching the example and attempted to sell them, the company could sue you for distributing copies of their work without their permission.
- lawlessbricks 6y ago
  This all hinges on if their work is the sculpture itself, or everything around it, if the sculptures of made of lego bricks are recipes.
  - marcinzm 6y ago
    As I see it, the instructions for making the sculpture are a recipe and thus not under copyright. The final sculpture isn't a recipe and isn't functional (ie: food, clothing, etc.) and thus is under copyright. Otherwise you get silly things like all digital works not being under copyright because you can make a recipe of computer actions that creates them.
    - extra88 6y ago
      Recipes for food dishes are not copyrightable, I'm not certain all instructions for making things are treated the same but let's assume for the moment they are. If the instructions for assembly are in the form of photos or diagrams (or video), I think copyright is still in effect, either they're a derivative work of the original sculpture or have their own copyright. I think instructions for assembly written out in words would not be copyrightable ("Place a 2x8 blue plate on the bottom then stack three 2x4 black bricks on top of each other at the left side of the plate, …), if they're considered equivalent to recipes for food.
      - lawlessbricks 6y ago
        From what I've learned, Even if the recipe was in a video, You cannot make a video in the same "style" but the recipe itself is not copyright, so if you made a video of that recipe yourself that was different (different set, different host, different music) you'd have copyright on that video, but neither you nor the original video creator on the recipe itself. This is how I think it applies to lego as well, but as we see from the comments here a lot of other non-lawyers like me are surprised by that. When I started this question in my head a few days ago, I absolutely 100% thought creations made from lego designs were copyrightable, but through my research, I'm now at this point.
        extra88 6y ago
        A sculpture made out of Lego is not a recipe for making that sculpture. A photo of the sculpture is not a recipe. You can't "clean room" copyrighted works, if you coincidentally made an identical plane (same parts) without having ever seen their plane or instructions, you could still be infringing on their copyright. There are limits, just as you can copyright a story but not a sentence, there are likely combinations of bricks that are too simple to be copyrightable. Copyright holders can grant blanket permissions for use of their works, or derivatives, with certain parameters. What you're going to do with your copy of a work matters, that's where fair use (or "fair dealing" in some nations) may come in. Whether commerce is involved matters. Some things are technically copyrighted but are considered to have no value; a court may not grant damages but could still compel the defendant to stop distributing the work.

extra88 6y ago

The company has a copyright on the sculptures shown in the examples provided but are clearly meant to be replicated for your personal use and enjoyment. If you built a lot of sculptures matching the example and attempted to sell them, the company could sue you for distributing copies of their work without their permission.

lawlessbricks 6y ago
This all hinges on if their work is the sculpture itself, or everything around it, if the sculptures of made of lego bricks are recipes.
- marcinzm 6y ago
  As I see it, the instructions for making the sculpture are a recipe and thus not under copyright. The final sculpture isn't a recipe and isn't functional (ie: food, clothing, etc.) and thus is under copyright. Otherwise you get silly things like all digital works not being under copyright because you can make a recipe of computer actions that creates them.
  - extra88 6y ago
    Recipes for food dishes are not copyrightable, I'm not certain all instructions for making things are treated the same but let's assume for the moment they are. If the instructions for assembly are in the form of photos or diagrams (or video), I think copyright is still in effect, either they're a derivative work of the original sculpture or have their own copyright. I think instructions for assembly written out in words would not be copyrightable ("Place a 2x8 blue plate on the bottom then stack three 2x4 black bricks on top of each other at the left side of the plate, …), if they're considered equivalent to recipes for food.
    - lawlessbricks 6y ago
      From what I've learned, Even if the recipe was in a video, You cannot make a video in the same "style" but the recipe itself is not copyright, so if you made a video of that recipe yourself that was different (different set, different host, different music) you'd have copyright on that video, but neither you nor the original video creator on the recipe itself. This is how I think it applies to lego as well, but as we see from the comments here a lot of other non-lawyers like me are surprised by that. When I started this question in my head a few days ago, I absolutely 100% thought creations made from lego designs were copyrightable, but through my research, I'm now at this point.
      - extra88 6y ago
        A sculpture made out of Lego is not a recipe for making that sculpture. A photo of the sculpture is not a recipe. You can't "clean room" copyrighted works, if you coincidentally made an identical plane (same parts) without having ever seen their plane or instructions, you could still be infringing on their copyright. There are limits, just as you can copyright a story but not a sentence, there are likely combinations of bricks that are too simple to be copyrightable. Copyright holders can grant blanket permissions for use of their works, or derivatives, with certain parameters. What you're going to do with your copy of a work matters, that's where fair use (or "fair dealing" in some nations) may come in. Whether commerce is involved matters. Some things are technically copyrighted but are considered to have no value; a court may not grant damages but could still compel the defendant to stop distributing the work.