This is absolutely legal. People buy models for printing and it is their right. Number of printed copies are undefinite...
Hello!
If we find people who sell printed copies of the STLs sold here, is that considered illegal, and is it actionable? How and where do we report this?
This is absolutely legal. People buy models for printing and it is their right. Number of printed copies are undefinite...
Not for selling. Read 21.1. on https://www.cgtrader.com/pages/terms-and-conditions#general-terms-of-licensing
There are some cases where I have allowed someone exclusive rights to a 3d printable model that I created. Usually, these people are jewelers or own a jewelry market of some type. They've requested an exclusive model for molding that they can later use to create custom pieces, etc. Typically, I might charge up to 1000x more for exclusive models than I would for non-exclusive because I know the client is allowed to resell the printed model as often as he wants. That's why the markup on the model is so high. This is rare though and usually done only on a person-to-person basis, or private request. Anything you buy from the marketplaces here is non-exclusive, and therefore can not be resold when printed or fabricated into a real-world item.
I can say only about jewelry.
Depends on what seller wants. Somebody sells printable models without permission to sell printed item. And they have right for that strategy. But I'm selling models that are intended for production and by default it means that I give permission to buyer to print this model, cast in metal and pull it to mass production. For me most important is to not allow reselling of 3d-model. But what my customer does with "hard copy" is not my business. Anyway after printing, mechanical operations, casting and finishing model can look similar to 3d-prototype, but inevitable it will be different physically (in terms of metrology)... So I'm supporting Exact-3d opinion except the part "absolutely legal" (sorry for repeating: I'm allowing for my models to sell printed ITEMS, but not to resell digital copies, for me it's legal/ But for some other designer it can be forbidden and illegal if this designer don't allows to selling printed items, and he is also right... but then I'm don't understand the reason and sense of making and selling printable models, if buyers can print it only 1 time or only for personal purposes... at least for jewelry)
Thank You, Skapricorn, for support... I wrote "This is absolutely legal" - of course it means "sell printed copies of the STLs sold here" as asked by vincentstarjammer. It is not permitted to sell original files of the model...
Some marketplaces has multiple licenses system in place where seller can sell the same item with different licenses and different prices. Customer then can choose if he wants pay less for the model and be able to print and use it for personal use only, or if he wants to resell 3d-printed asset, but pay significantly higher price to seller for the model. At cgtrader however, seller can chose one, or another, but not both. Alternatively he can publish a model twice with different license and pricing. Nevertheless, one must remember that by default, reselling 3d-printed copies is not allowed.
As it has already been said, in point 21 of the terms and conditions, it is not allowed to print the models, except as a minimum part of a whole and only for models that are original, not replicas of other designs. If you want to expand the permitted use, you must use a personalized license. But in no case can you print models that are counterfeits of jewelry models that are owned by others (Cartier, Bulgari, Van Cleff and Alpels, Damiani, Tiffany, Versace ...), and that include your brand, because it is a crime. At most these models must be sold with an editorial license, which of course does not allow printing or mass production. Those companies, in addition to having their trademark, also register their designs to avoid precisely this. And those if they initiate legal actions, which is why they have a team of lawyers on payroll.
In order to post an answer, you need to sign in.