Does Anyone Fully Understand Copyright Law ?

[stubby 175]

ok, so I keep a few bee hives and am a pest controller, and every year we get wasps, now a lot of beekeepers rush out and buy shop sold wasp traps, me, I prefer to make them out of the old pop bottles, and this year had good success with them, both on wasps and hornets, which I get quite a few off in my woodland,

 

so I got my thinking head on, looked at lots of trap designs and came up with this, it's made from one large,one small pepsi bottle, four silicone sealant nozzles, a bit of waste pipe and glue, as normal I posted a "how too" video on youtube, as a similar design shop bought trap was £32 !!!!!!! mine cost 62p

 

 

 

within an hour of posting it on a bee forum, I had mail from the inventor of the shop bought trap saying I was infringing copyright and that I should remove the video, not knowing the law I did so, but having asked a few others I'm getting a 50/50 divide of answers on whether Im ok or not, some are saying even items made from scrap can be deemed as breaking copyright, others are saying that it's only relevant if I went into production and tried selling, and homemade stuff (recycled) is exempt, others have said carry on, just don't put up videos, but that's me, I like to show others how to do stuff

 

the inventor tried offering me 6 free traps, but I thought this was a ploy to get my address to sue the arse off me so I declined the offer

but I did ask him what I could change on my trap, so it wouldn't infringe his, his reply was....

 

staggered flutes to side walls of top chamber, coupled to a second killing chamber

 

 

Anyone have any ideas ????

[walshie 2,804]

I thought copyright law would only apply to the video you made of it and then only if it was his video and you used it without his permission.

 

He probably means patent...and I would assume by his lack of knowledge of the terms he hasn't patented his invention.

[stubby 175]

he does have copyright on it, I checked

 

EP1399017 B1

[walshie 2,804]

That's a patent which is different, so he probably got confused with the terms. He has the rights to that design, unless you make a few changes.

[stubby 175]

That's a patent which is different, so he probably got confused with the terms. He has the rights to that design, unless you make a few changes.

ok, so reading the plans, he quotes that using 3 flutes does not make the trap effective, so they use 4, so if I carry on using 3 (used 4 in the picture) would that class as different enough ?

can't figure out how the make the bottom different

[stubby 175]

ok, my mistake, he said I was infringing the patent,

 

his bottom killing chamber is self sealing, so when removing a container full of half dead wasps, your not going to get stung,

 

mine is a used 500ml pepsi bottle with no such sealer

 

is that different enough, or is it that no one else in the world can use a second killing chamber?

[walshie 2,804]

I've no idea how much different you'd have to make it in order to comply. Try asking the patents office. They'll steer you in the right direction.

[stubby 175]

I've no idea how much different you'd have to make it in order to comply. Try asking the patents office. They'll steer you in the right direction.

good idea, just mailed them

[desertbred 5,490]

Just call it something else rather than a wasp and hornet trap, call it a plastic recycler with the added benefit that it sometimes traps flying insects . once the patent office respond you will know excactly what he has patented.

[stubby 175]

just as an update, I got in touch with a patent attorney, seems that if your copying for own use only, and not for re selling, then no laws are being broken, so all good on that