Comments on: 3rd Party Warhammer 40K Primarchs Sculpts – Trouble?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 18:08:00 +0000

So painting studios cant say Ultramarines while showing their work? Its the same situation.

By: Hive Senteniel

Hive Senteniel — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 03:34:00 +0000

Yeah, I definitely think Russ would be the main issue if GW went after them, seeming as he was deliberately made from a GW/BL cover art. Even so, it might still be sketchy, as he’s not for sale nor does GW have their own (recent) model to compare and contrast with. So they’re treading on a VERY thin sheet of ice.

By: Edohiguma

Edohiguma — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 19:04:00 +0000

While the models may not be for sale, GW could argue that Den is using names that GW owns for advertising Den’s services. Plus taking official artwork as basis for the sculptures. The ball is really in GW’s half now. Yes, they could go after Den, might even win. I remember, years ago, how Leonardo DiCaprio sued a German ice cream parlor that planned to use the name “Di Caprio” (despite it being a relatively common name and “Italian ice cream” still being a big selling point for ice cream parlors in Germany and Austria) and he won.

Also keep in mind that trials in court are not about justice, but ultimately only about how a passage of the law can be interpreted.

By: Zweischneid

Zweischneid — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:59:00 +0000

Yeah, I think that Curze image is from deviant art originally.

Russ, however, is by their own article sculpted to match the Prospero Burns cover
http://www.denofimagination.com.pl/2013/09/leman-russ-fall-of-prospero.html

By: Hive Senteniel

Hive Senteniel — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:45:00 +0000

mmm these models aren’t for sale so GW/FW can’t really get them for that. Furthermore it looks more like a “hey look what we can do”, which I think is fine as long as they don’t sell those particular models. If GW does go after them for it it’d be pretty much a coin toss with the judge right now.
* On a sidenote is that an “Official” image of Konrad Curze I thought it was just a Fan-Piece from 40k Wiki (Warhammer40k Wiki tends to post a lot of Fan images, That’s why I use Lexicanum)

By: belverker

belverker — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:07:00 +0000

got a feeling gw’s lawyers are watching closely and if it lpoks like these are getting out there as more than just 1 offs they might pounce, though i’m not sure where it stands if each 1 they sell is sculpted rather than cast…

By: Zweischneid

Zweischneid — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Well, that is partly where I can’t decide for myself where it would fall.

If they’d sell these as miniatures with unchanged names, Scribor-Style, they’d obviously be in trouble.

If these were just “some guy” doing green-stuff madness for his own hobby-time, there’d be no issue.

As it is, it’s kinda here nor there. They don’t sell them as “mass-produced” miniatures, though they do sell them as “please sculpt me a miniature”, and they clearly advertise these particular miniatures as “this is what we do sculpting for clients”.

It kinda feels like sitting in the middle.

By: Ruska

Ruska — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 16:16:00 +0000

Hmm. If they aren’t selling them, how can they get in trouble? If they were sculpting copies of GW/FW models, then I think it would be illegal, is it would be counterfeiting. But if it’s a re-imagining of a character from GW’s IP, it’s a little bit trickier. I think it is foolish to blatantly label them as the primarchs that they are supposed to represent, it would be much more difficult for GW’s legal team if they just called them generic names. Scibor has some very cool models that could function like a primarch or powerful character and they have generic names like “Lion SF Knight”.