What is recasting??

[racprops]

OK What is recasting?

It is buying someone else model and throwing rubber over it and then casting models and sell them as your own work.

There are some real reasons this can be a good thing, when the original maker has long stopped making a model, died or left the hobby, then his work maybe fair game. This is called re-releasing

But to recast a current in production model and take money out of the hand of the person that created it, that is the real name of recaster.


Why is this bad??

Because if we do allow this to happen, if we do stop a recaster, if we buy from such a person, then you will find many if not all true artists will not spend months researching and finding the correct parts and months making a great model.

Why spend so much time and effort if you only going to see the work you did and the models your now selling to pay off all the work being ripped off and copied with no work in their creation and no money to you and sold cheaper.

I know of many who will not sell their models to you because it will end up being recasted and you will support the recaster.

I know of many who will not even make new models now a days because of this.

You all lose. We all lose.

All you will end up is recast trash and no one will offer new stuff.

I know I will not do any new models.

Rich
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I never have enough time to do all I want to do!

[darkknight0667]

This one's going to the Coffee Shop, since it doesn't belong in the Main Prop area.
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Pete

[bosstiki]

One of the largest markets for recasting were the recasts of vintage Don Post rubber masks before they released their classic Universal line. What is unfortuneate is that legitimate manufacturer's apply for copyright, which covers the use of the image, model or what have you. This typically can be a very expensive venture but it establishes specification for the use of the image and a period of time that ownership is established.
The main problem is that many artist who produce fine works of art or props which mimic those images as seen on screen do not establish copyright with the parties who maintain legal rights to those images.
My friends Grandfather who is now passed on represented Robert Crumb in a land mark legal case. Robert had defined a cartoon image which, if you grew up in the seventies, you'll recognize as the Keep on Truckin man. This image was solely his and created by him. Other companies started to use the image in all sorts of applications (t-shirts, hats, stickers, etc...,). This law suit drove out definition of what public domain was and what copyright is. A very fine line exists there but the line protects those who copyright their work, or patent their work. Any one who produces a copy of that image for the gain of profit is violating copyright or infringing on those established rights. Hobby or Company? That is the question that we all need to ask ourselves. A hobby is for fun and sharing our interest with others. A company is for making money and that is the bottom line friends.
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The only limitation is your mind...

[Masao]

"The main problem is that many artist who produce fine works of art or props which mimic those images as seen on screen do not establish copyright with the parties who maintain legal rights to those images... This law suit drove out definition of what public domain was and what copyright is.

A very fine line exists there but the line protects those who copyright their work, or patent their work. Any one who produces a copy of that image for the gain of profit is violating copyright or infringing on those established rights."

Apparently this case did more harm than good.

Actually, this has little to do with recasting. Copyright holders have, in recent years, turned a blind eye to recasters. Whether it was Chinese recasters of WB store properties or ripoffs of original works, "License holders" have been in whole-hearted support of recasting.

If copyrights were currently fair and honest, CREATORS (builders, sculptors, singers, writers) of so-called "derivative works" would also be protected by copyright...as the laws were intended. This is not the case today. The copyright laws as championed by such notables as Edgar A. Poe were intended to protect individuals from international media giants' violations of work. The modern, perverted laws protect any thief-with-deep-pockets that can show a relation to a similar work. The result is the "Last Son of Earth" type case where an entire work was stolen from an individual by a company -just because it could.

Back to recasting: Recasting is a legitimate technique -IF USED IN CONTEXT OF THE SPECIFIC INDUSTRY. Otherwise, it is stealing. Example; a company producing a new film (based on an old film) remaking props from the molds of the previous film (assuming the rights to the film were acquired) is legitimately recasting. Example: An artist who created a sculpture for a now defunct gives permission to a third party to recast the sculpture, is authorizing a legitimate recast.

Recasting of any object or work that is not is lawfully justified is counterfeiting.

"Hobby or Company? That is the question that we all need to ask ourselves. A hobby is for fun and sharing our interest with others. A company is for making money and that is the bottom line friends."

Not at all true. This hobby definitely falls in the "gray area" where some subjects are simply too cost-prohibitive to create without help. Sometimes this results in a profit. Often it does not. No viable business can be built on a production of a dozen small items that take years to make and for which the bulk of the price is the manufacturing cost.

Just try to get any established business to take on such a job and wait for the inescapable, resounding "NO THANKS".

Recasting ensures that the hobby status is retained by resin model manufacturers(including prop makers). Only the recasters and other thieves can profit from this situation.

My position becomes pretty clear: If you make it with your own two hands, write it yourself, or otherwise create it with your own materials and skill without reproducing the work of others with mechanical means, it is yours. No one should be able to take that away.

Unfortunately, my opinion means nothing to recasters and other thieves.