That was an interesting thread. I always believed that making a copy of a boat that someone has designed and is selling plans for would be wrong because there is a way of purchasing the lines for the boat. Someone has put a lot of work into designing it and they are expecting to be compensated for that work from anybody who uses their plans to build a copy. I would never consider building one of Nicks boats unless I paid him for the plans. Even if I intended to change it, if I use his design to start it to me that constitutes using his plans.

What I was wondering was if cloning a commercial boat might be a bit different because the manufacturer provides no way for purchasing the lines, and doesn't specifically ask for compensation if someone copies and builds one. They want to sell you a boat, not plans to build one. (It might be a nice offshoot business for commercial kayak manufacturers to sell plans for their designs to people like us.)

~Edgar

> There was an interesting discussion on a similar topic over on
> the Newfound Woodworks board quite a while ago, the link is below.
> It started off as a question about the cost estimate of building a
> canoe (?), and quickly progressed into a debate on design rights.
> I think it was Mark (?) who "brought" the discussion to
> this board, but that one, I think is in the archives, which STILL
> isn't working. :-) Nick?

> Mike Spence