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I know a little belated, but THANK YOU MELODY! For everything! And Karen and the Family, and everyone else at Windstone Editions that makes our addiction possible!!!
~Cat
And an extra thank you for resculpting the PYO griffin’s eyebrow!! ^_^ Just noticed!
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
-J R R TolkienOk. I probably should keep my nose out of this topic. With anything made to paint yourself of ANY copywrited materials, albeit Windstone or whatever type of paint it yourself things (take your pick of any pictures paintings, or ceramics etc) there are always going to be the few who will copy paintjobs of others. It is going to happen whether the eyes match or not. Limiting the colors of the eyes or jewels won’t stop it. Information will for the most part. But suggesting making all different colors of eyes for them instead of the production eye colors, is going to limit not only what others can paint and match with the eye colors, but also what you yourselves can match with eye colors. Making EVERYONE suffer becasue of the few who chose to paint them with the same colors isn’t fair either.
My next door neighbor just brought me a big ol’ honking paint your own dragon of some sort with a castle. Not only is it the ugliest thing I have ever seen, he wants me to paint it to match a pic of one he found in a magazine. I told him I couldn’t do. He told me to paint it whatever I wanted then (acting all disgusted). I haven’t picked it back up since I started to put the first coat on.
All I can think about is Windstone PYO’s (I swear I dream about them most nights). I have many eye and color patterns written down to try. Waiting on my taxes to buy them all. But, by the time I can, it may be so limited in colors for the eyes and stones that I will have to pass on them. PYO’s by Wndstone have been on my mind for years. Not jsut 2 or 3 years mind you, but I wished for them for about the last 10 years. I was so happy to finally see them out, to be able to paint my own styles on them! You don’t know my excitement! Now, without even having bought 1 single dragon to paint, they are soon possibly becoming an endangered species. 😥
Not that my single opinion matters, but I figured since everyone else put theirs in here…not to stir any pots…but gosh, the Breyer company even encourages repaints and custom additions to their work, and it does not seem to hurt them at all. In fact it means that one person might buy dozens of one model vs a collector who would just buy one. I understand the Windstone company not wanting people to copy thier more unique colors, but really…people have made dragons with gold accents for generations. That is not exactly a new idea. And people have made green or brown dragons for ages too. I understand that the company does not want other companies Mass Producing these, but one hand painted sculpture clearly labeled as an amatur paint job, not from the factory, should never be a problem.
Look at ancient dragon sculptures in Thailand. They have gold accents on wings and lips and horns/claws. They have rainbow scales.
Even Windstone for example decided to do the oriental dragon in a Koi design like I recently did *against their general wishes, but not outright against them*, I would not think they were copying me. I would say hey, I knew it was a good idea and a natural idea for that mold considering that Koi and Oriental dragons are both a huge deal in Asian cultures…its a natural idea to combine them.
None of us (including that girl that did the secret keeper based PYO) intend to undersell Windstones.I just hope this company doesn’t do what Disney has done. They go after each little person who dares to admire their work enough to get a Tattoo of their charater and sues them. It takes away some of the joy.
So yeah I won’t sell any peices that are direct copies of Windstone peices…but I think this is getting a bit blown out of proportion.
I think perhaps the thing to say is that “one can not resell PYO sculptures done in the same designs owned by Windstone Editions”. That way if people really want a tan gryphon to match their set, they can “try” to make one, but they can never sell it later. It makes us feel less trapped as collectors, but does not hurt your copyright or sales numbers! 🙂
Whoa, no one’s blowing anything out of proportion. 🙂
These are all just ideas we’re bouncing around and in the end it’s up to Melody, John, and whomever else does the decision making to decide.
Comparing Breyer to Windstone is a little bit of the apples to oranges scenario. There are many companies that make products for artists to paint. Take a look at your local craft store sometime- there’s all sorts of crazy stuff.
Windstone is unique because their product is unique. It does not look quite like anything else out there. Breyer is mostly realistic horses- and while they are beautiful horses, they are still horses and there are other companies that make realistic horses. There are finite ways to make a realistic horse and since it is their NAME that is distinguishable, they let people have a free-for-all with customizing the horses. Plus, they have at least 20 artists.
Windstones are collectible art, with a single artist for each line, and a distinct style. Like I said, there is nothing else like them.
So what does this mean? It’s kinda a teeter-totter that Windstone has to sit on. On one hand, they need to protect their rights and keep their product unique, or they stand to loose business and that could mean trouble for all of us. On the other hand they genuinely do want to encourage creativity and make these PYOs something everyone can enjoy (after all, why else would they put so much time and materials into making them for us? They love us! 😀 ). So there is a fine line in there somewhere. That’s why all the input is appreciated. Again, it’s only ideas and nothing is set in stone (gypsum 😉 ) so there is no need to be upset. 🙂
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comwhippetluv wrote:I am actually not upset..speaking for me anyway! I was just stateing my opinion. 🙂
No problem! That’s a good thing. 🙂
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com😀 YES! She deserves a HUGE applause! I am so greatful for every one of her amazing creations! And cant wait to see what she has instore for us! I only wish I could be as GOOD as her! 😉
Your LIKE FAMILY Melody! Thanks again!whippetluv wrote:not to stir any pots…but gosh, the Breyer company even encourages repaints and custom additions to their work, and it does not seem to hurt them at all. In fact it means that one person might buy dozens of one model vs a collector who would just buy one. I understand the Windstone company not wanting people to copy thier more unique colors, but really…people have made dragons with gold accents for generations. That is not exactly a new idea. And people have made green or brown dragons for ages too. I understand that the company does not want other companies Mass Producing these, but one hand painted sculpture clearly labeled as an amatur paint job, not from the factory, should never be a problem.
Look at ancient dragon sculptures in Thailand. They have gold accents on wings and lips and horns/claws. They have rainbow scales.
Even Windstone for example decided to do the oriental dragon in a Koi design like I recently did *against their general wishes, but not outright against them*, I would not think they were copying me. I would say hey, I knew it was a good idea and a natural idea for that mold considering that Koi and Oriental dragons are both a huge deal in Asian cultures…its a natural idea to combine them.
None of us (including that girl that did the secret keeper based PYO) intend to undersell Windstones.I just hope this company doesn’t do what Disney has done. They go after each little person who dares to admire their work enough to get a Tattoo of their charater and sues them. It takes away some of the joy.
So yeah I won’t sell any peices that are direct copies of Windstone peices…but I think this is getting a bit blown out of proportion.
I think perhaps the thing to say is that “one can not resell PYO sculptures done in the same designs owned by Windstone Editions”. That way if people really want a tan gryphon to match their set, they can “try” to make one, but they can never sell it later. It makes us feel less trapped as collectors, but does not hurt your copyright or sales numbers! 🙂Yes! This copyright thing is a headache for all of us!! The Breyer company brings up a point that I would like to make.. if the color/pattern is a naturaly occurring one; one that is on a real animal, you are free to use it! I did koi dragons years and years ago,when I sculptd the first Oriental dragon, but because it is a real animal pattern, we don’t claim to own it.Breyer horses are real horse colors, and nobody owns that. (I mean, except for the ones made to look like Spaceships or something)BUT our colors, like the old brown and old green dragon pattern, for example,was not a real animal color, or pattern, nor were they derived from any other pre-existing art work that was not my own. I made them up. It became part of our distinguishing “look”, by which folks could recognise our product.We also managed to protect the gold, and color spot patterns.
I also want to make it clear that it isn’t because we are jerks that we must be picky and strict about this matter, it is absolutely essential to protect copyrights.I HATE it, but this is the world we live in..( Disney is in the same boat!)whippetluv wrote:I just hope this company doesn’t do what Disney has done. They go after each little person who dares to admire their work enough to get a Tattoo of their charater and sues them. It takes away some of the joy.
Not to sidetrack things, but is this true? Did Disney win?
Disney once sued a little town because they called thier little playground something like “Magic land” or something like that.
Coke sued a company who had been using polar bears on their softdrinks (adds and whatnot) for years before coke got the idea. Coke won of course. The company with the most money will win a suit.
It’s fair to compare Windstone with Disney. Since they are both very unique. I think the gold dotting is fair to copyright, but, accents in gold? I think that goes a bit far. I’ve seen many, many different artists throughout the years put gold detailing on their mythical animals. I wouldn’t think to copy them or you (anyone and Windstone). But, there will always be someone who will. And, do it intentionally. There will always be someone who wants to cash in on someone elses ideas. And I really don’t think changing eye colour will help in the least. Well, there is my itty bitty 2 cents.
Disney also sued West Edmonton Mall for calling the amusment park Fantasy Land, they won, so it is now called Galaxyland.
They also sued a daycare in Flordia for painting disney characters on their walls, and won, but Hanna-Barbara or Warner Brothers (cant remember which) gave the daycare a bunch of their wall decals afterwards.
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