I never knew there was a federal law relating to copying a hull design, but this article I found while looking for information on Hawai'ian outrigger canoes is an eye opener. It relates to The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, or VHDPA.

"The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act (VHDPA. Formerly H.R. 2696), introduced October 22, 1997, and incorporated into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA. Pub.L. No. 105-304, formerly H.R. 2281, 112 Stat. 2860, Oct. 28, 1998, Title V. Adding chapter 13 to Title 17 of the U.S. Code.)." (This is from the site mentioend below)

It particularly addresses the practice of using a hull as a plug for making a mold, and then using that mold to make additional copies.

Those on this forum who design boats, and sell those designs, or licenses to build from those designs, will be most interested.

check out:

http://holoholo.org/canunews/paddle99/hullcopy.html

PGJ