I came across this on the Wooden Boat magazine BBS. Since we has recently discussed copyright issues I thought there might be some interest in a common sense approach by a lawyer.

Subject: Since when does Miller have a license to practice law? LOL Reply Posted by: Bob Cleek (POPEYE_DA_SAILOR@yahoo.com ) Date Posted: Tue Oct 6 20:24:42 1998 Message: Well, Miller's right, sort of. Since I am a lawyer, I have to beat around the bush. That's because in this business, as soon as you've given someone a straight answer to a question, they tell you another little twist on the facts that messes everything up again and makes the answer all wrong. I'd be careful about following Miller's legal advice without checking with your own intellectual property attorney! Sure, you can tweak something a little bit here or there and call it something else and PROBABLY get away with it, but frankly, if you hit the big time with a real popular boat that looked substantially like someone else's design, I doubt it would be long before the hyenas were circling, barking that you'd ripped off the design. It all comes down to "no blood, no foul..." (a secret legal concept known only to lawyers.) As a potential businessman, I CAN give you one bit of free legal advice: every dollar you spend on GOOD legal advice from your company attorney will equal hundreds in litigation costs even if you win, let alone damages if you lose. The first rule is "avoid getting sued if you can help it." Clean living helps. "Circumventing the copyright laws..." as suggested by my buddy Bob Miller, is "risky business" as far as I'm concerned. Also, bad kharma. A boat has to be built with a pure heart and a clear conscience or she will be a Jonah for sure! Besides, if you pay the designer for the design and follow the plans and somebody sues you later for a design defect, you can always pull the designer into the suit on your side to share the liability! Cheap insurance, that!