Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Rotolo
Or, for that matter, someone re-drawing the drawing and distributing that.
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So long as it was not an exact replica of the drawing, then there would be no copyright protection. For instance the drawing could be re-drawn to a different scale, show dimensions in different locations, be in first angle rather than third angle projection, have some parts with slightly different dimensions, be a SolidWorks file rather than an Inventor file.... I would even go so far as to say that if the original drawing was drawn exactly to an established standard, then someone could re-draw it to that established standard and have a perfect duplicate without infringing copyright because no creative content went into either drawing. (The creatvity being in the design, not the drawing.) They may even be able to copy the drawing outright, just as they would a table of data, or a bare (non-artistic) chart or graph.
Oh, heck... here's someone who's written it up better and more authoritatively than I
http://www.lawmart.com/searches/difference.htm
That is the value of a patent... it truly protects the idea of the design, which is the fundamental part of the invention rather than just an expression of the idea.
Jason
P.S. Good luck with manufacturing and marketing your design. It looks like a design that is extremely well-suited to mass production and once you get your jigs worked out you should be able to churn them out by the hundreds fairly quickly.