Check out Circular 40 from the Copyright Office, which lists “Works of the Visual Arts” that are automatically protected by copyright when created, including: “sculpture, such as carvings, ceramics, figurines, maquettes, molds, relief sculptures….” http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40.html#general
See Circular 40(a) for Deposit Requirements in Visual Arts Material.

Dave
--------------------------------------------------------------
J. David Canarie, Jr.
Adjunct Instructor of Business Law
Saint Joseph's College of Maine
278 Whites Bridge Road
Standish, ME 04084-5243

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www.sjcme.edu



-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk on behalf of Daniel Warner
Sent: Wed 2/9/2005 10:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: intellectual property question
 
Hi Colleagues,

 

Here's a question for you.  I ask my students to come up with in-class
"prompts" for us to discuss.  Here was a good one the answer to which I
did not know.  No patent, obviously.  No copyright.  No contract.  Let
me know what you think.

 

Dan Warner

 

*************************************

 

Alice owns a small ceramic shop and produces custom-made pots, bowls,
plates, and mugs.  Bill owns a nursery and occasionally buys ceramic
pots from A.  They have no written contract, but A likes the arrangement
because it provides her more sales and exposure than she gets from her
small shop.

 

One day A supplied B with a pot that had a unique design; it became a
big seller.  Bill, recognizing he could sell a lot more of these pots,
had a manufacturer in China supply exact replicas for fraction of the
cost of A's.

 

Alice found out about this.  Does she have a claim?

 

Professor Daniel M. Warner

Department of Accounting (Business Legal Studies)

MS 9071, Western Washington University

516 High St.

Bellingham, WA 98225

(360) 650-3390

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