Cabinet Art Files Illegal ? Downloading ? Pinball Machine Reproduction

[coolade76]

Since so many websites here in the U.S. have been discontinued selling
reproduction pinball artwork ,decals and ect...
Is it okay to share or trade this type files freely ??
For instance I would like to fix my Addams Family cabinet art however
purchasing a licensed copy is currently unobtianable.
If a licensed copy is not available.and a reproduction is illegal to
sell .?Is it okay to share or trade reproduction type files freely ??
For those attempting to make huge profits from an online auctions would
be pointless if the files are free for download.
I assume this would help the pinball community / hobbiest greatly
that would like to restore their machines.
Anyways I would appreciate any help locating The Addams Family cabinet
artwork files.
Thanks
JP

[Andrew]

Not a lawyer, but...

The material it is printed on is not protected (in the context of this
discussion) the subject is protected. IE the Art itself.

Copying it and then giving it away, selling it, anything like that is not
legal. Physical or otherwise.

It is intellectual property.

AB

Post by coolade76
Since so many websites here in the U.S. have been discontinued selling
reproduction pinball artwork ,decals and ect...
Is it okay to share or trade this type files freely ??
For instance I would like to fix my Addams Family cabinet art however
purchasing a licensed copy is currently unobtianable.
If a licensed copy is not available.and a reproduction is illegal to
sell .?Is it okay to share or trade reproduction type files freely ??
For those attempting to make huge profits from an online auctions would
be pointless if the files are free for download.
I assume this would help the pinball community / hobbiest greatly
that would like to restore their machines.
Anyways I would appreciate any help locating The Addams Family cabinet
artwork files.
Thanks
JP

[martin]

Just like music and videos, it is illegal to make copies of this stuff.
That said, no court will bother you for making a copy to fix your
pinball machine. Where it gets tricky is when you start giving the
files to others, because you start to look like a distributor of
illegal copies (this is where the music industry has been causing
trouble for file sharers). And then nasty if you start selling the
artwork for profit.

There are parallels to all this stuff in the music and video industry.

All that said, you may find someone who has made files to repair their
machine and can help you out.

[martin]

Just like music and videos, it is illegal to make copies of this stuff.
That said, no court will bother you for making a copy to fix your
pinball machine. Where it gets tricky is when you start giving the
files to others, because you start to look like a distributor of
illegal copies (this is where the music industry has been causing
trouble for file sharers). And then nasty if you start selling the
artwork for profit.

There are parallels to all this stuff in the music and video industry.

All that said, you may find someone who has made files to repair their
machine and can help you out.

[Peter Katzmann]

I remember dark a discussion about something similar.
It depends if you own a machine when you share this information or not.
Because you paid for the artwork already and it is your right to restore it to
any condition. If someone gives you the file for free for
reproduction/restoring your own machine, so it should be no problem.
Only commercial trade or reproduction is a problem.
But i don't know if the law changed since then

peter

Post by coolade76
Since so many websites here in the U.S. have been discontinued selling
reproduction pinball artwork ,decals and ect...
Is it okay to share or trade this type files freely ??
For instance I would like to fix my Addams Family cabinet art however
purchasing a licensed copy is currently unobtianable.
If a licensed copy is not available.and a reproduction is illegal to
sell .?Is it okay to share or trade reproduction type files freely ??
For those attempting to make huge profits from an online auctions would
be pointless if the files are free for download.
I assume this would help the pinball community / hobbiest greatly
that would like to restore their machines.
Anyways I would appreciate any help locating The Addams Family cabinet
artwork files.
Thanks
JP

[David Gersic]

Post by Peter Katzmann
I remember dark a discussion about something similar.
It depends if you own a machine when you share this information or not.

Uh, no, no it doesn't.

Post by Peter Katzmann
Because you paid for the artwork already and it is your right to restore it to
any condition.

On your own machine, you can do whatever you want. You can't "share" it
with others.

Post by Peter Katzmann
If someone gives you the file for free for
reproduction/restoring your own machine, so it should be no problem.
Only commercial trade or reproduction is a problem.

Uh, no. You can't distributed copies of anything covered by copyright.
Whether you do so for free, or for money is irrelivant. Copyright isn't
that hard to understand. See http://www.copyright.gov/ and read the
Basics and FAQ links.

Post by Peter Katzmann

Post by coolade76
Since so many websites here in the U.S. have been discontinued selling
reproduction pinball artwork ,decals and ect...
Is it okay to share or trade this type files freely ??

No, it's not. Not that that has ever stopped anybody from doing it, but
it's still a copyright violation.

Post by Peter Katzmann

Post by coolade76
For instance I would like to fix my Addams Family cabinet art however
purchasing a licensed copy is currently unobtianable.

Fine. You can get out the paintbrushes and paints and do your best at
it. I'm not entirely sure what happens if you hire somebody else to
restore it, presumably that's ok, since they're just doing what you
would do, except that they are doing it for you.

[coolade76]

Its getting to the point were pinball hobbyest are made to feel as if
they are plotting a crime
in order to restore a pinball machine.LOL

[milt]

Post by coolade76
Its getting to the point were pinball hobbyest are made to feel as if
they are plotting a crime
in order to restore a pinball machine.LOL

If you own a Bally/WMS machine, basically you're right. It doesn't
appear as it will really change either, not under current ownership.

[icetre]

The question then is what if the files are open sourced, like say,
scans of plastics?

[s***@excite.com]

you can't open source something if you don't own the copyright

[icetre]

Open source was being used as a euphemism for freely distribute, see,
it was a JOKE. ;)

[s***@excite.com]

thought you meant so people could d/l it if they owned the machines.
Regardless of my missing that, Wayne is still an asshole. :)

[Nwojedi]

if you own a machine. You have the right to reproduce and fix it up
anyway you want with whatever you want. It's like a car. If you
custom make a fender for your chevy. Can chevy come back at you for
copywrite infringement? Nope. You bought the product. If you have
high rez scans of cab art. You have the right to print them, or make
them as wallpaper for your house. You can give them away as gifts to
others who own the machine as well. Just can't profit from it.
Legally that is. But I wouldn't tell either way.

[martin]

Not quite true. You own the machine, but you do not have any right to
copy artwork on it. It is still against the law.

However, no court is likely to penalize you for fixing up your own
machine. That's why the RIAA has such a hard time with CD burners, and
why the music companies fool with DRM software. The courts are only
interested in people who violate copyright for profit, or in volume.
That's why eBay is so hard on copyrighted material, they could be sued
by copyright owners if they weren't.


By the way, copyrights and patents are established in the U.S.
constitution. And given the devaluation of manufacturing jobs, will
become an increasingly important piece of the U.S. economy.

[coolade76]

What would be the difference in in trading pinball cabinet art vs
trading video cabinet art such as www.localarcade.com? Or the
difference in downloading pinball plastic scans ?
Thanks for the replies
JP

[martin]

It's all illegal. The difference is that the owners of the video
cabinet art are not pursuing their copyright. They are probably out of
the business. In pinball is that we have suppliers who own the
copyrights and who wish to make a business out of selling parts with
copyrighted artwork. By the way, it seems that we already went through
this with Gottlieb. IPDB has no roms nor manuals available, and I
haven't seen any plastics scans online (but I have not looked that
hard).

[Abby Normal]

I don't see why you can't dl the art if you already paid for the
machine. Of course, if you didn't have the machine why would you
bother?

I assume as long as you aren't selling said artwork, you own the
machine and it's for personal use only it should be ok.

Besides, has anyone really been sued yet?

[martin]

Same answer - you can do it, but it is a violation of copyright laws.
Doesn't matter what you do with it, you are breaking the law. Even if
it is for personal use on a machine that you own.

That said, in practice you aren't going to get prosecuted for it.
There's a bunch of bigger fish for the courts to fry.

[Fantastic Pinball]

well I don't know about that, but I do know that I have a very nice Centaur
playfield for sale. I have taken a really good picture of it and converted
that picture to a vector image so that it can be easily downloaded. I have
made a "Centaur playfield" Torrent file so that it can be found and
downloaded. This is one photo of the playfield I have for sale. I have many
other photos that have been enhanced to show how good this playfield could
be if touched up a bit. This is only one of the playfields I have for sale.
I'd be interested in trading playfields but I'd have to examine a good photo
before I consider a trade.

Post by coolade76
Since so many websites here in the U.S. have been discontinued selling
reproduction pinball artwork ,decals and ect...
Is it okay to share or trade this type files freely ??
For instance I would like to fix my Addams Family cabinet art however
purchasing a licensed copy is currently unobtianable.
If a licensed copy is not available.and a reproduction is illegal to
sell .?Is it okay to share or trade reproduction type files freely ??
For those attempting to make huge profits from an online auctions would
be pointless if the files are free for download.
I assume this would help the pinball community / hobbiest greatly
that would like to restore their machines.
Anyways I would appreciate any help locating The Addams Family cabinet
artwork files.
Thanks
JP

[Rob]

I believe that if you own the rights, use them, if you don't use them, let
someone else do it, but don't horde the rights and not let anyone have the
product, thats just rude.

Post by coolade76
Since so many websites here in the U.S. have been discontinued selling
reproduction pinball artwork ,decals and ect...
Is it okay to share or trade this type files freely ??
For instance I would like to fix my Addams Family cabinet art however
purchasing a licensed copy is currently unobtianable.
If a licensed copy is not available.and a reproduction is illegal to
sell .?Is it okay to share or trade reproduction type files freely ??
For those attempting to make huge profits from an online auctions would
be pointless if the files are free for download.
I assume this would help the pinball community / hobbiest greatly
that would like to restore their machines.
Anyways I would appreciate any help locating The Addams Family cabinet
artwork files.
Thanks
JP