hachiroku Posted October 10, 2016 What could we do to protect ours? They steal only sets made with LDD, right? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted October 10, 2016 Don't make instructions or LDD files available would be the easiest way. Not having too many detailed pictures online would also make it harder to reverse engineer a complex MOC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zux Posted October 10, 2016 I agree with that, especially if you aren't sharing any instructions. What if you do? And making a bit of investment return by selling some of them? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lyichir Posted October 10, 2016 3 hours ago, zux said: I agree with that, especially if you aren't sharing any instructions. What if you do? And making a bit of investment return by selling some of them? Unfortunately there's very little you can do if you're intent on making instructions available in that way. Companies like Lepin are fairly good at evading legal action even from large corporations from Lego, so there's little that an individual MOCist could do to fight them in court. And even charging money for those instructions is no guarantee that they won't be purchased by a bootlegger aiming to make and sell the model themselves (if anything, it might just make them more confident that the model is worth the investment of cloning). I worry that this sort of thing will have a "chilling effect" on MOCists sharing instructions for their creations with the community, but honestly there's no easy solution other than not providing instructions in the first place. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hachiroku Posted October 10, 2016 4 hours ago, dr_spock said: Don't make instructions or LDD files available would be the easiest way. Not having too many detailed pictures online would also make it harder to reverse engineer a complex MOC. I think my case is a lttle special. I do instructions, but in youtube and recording myself building the MOCs. I don't know until what point this is stealable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zux Posted October 10, 2016 I've initially read about this at Brickset. The comment section is somewhat depressing. There is high number of people (that's within LEGO community!) who appreciated Lepin releasing MOC based sets. I understand why there is demand for old modular knock-offs. But people's MOCs... that's something I couldn't think of. This will definitely have a chill effect on instruction creation. Not that I produce world class MOCs, but I like doing instructions for them. I'll consider this situation with Lepin in the future. You may never know if any other company pickup the new trend with other sorts of MOCs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted October 10, 2016 There is probably a market for MOC kits. It's more convenient than buying instructions and then trying to find and buy all the pieces on Blicklink or other sources and deal with multiple orders and shipping charges. 3 hours ago, hachiroku said: I think my case is a lttle special. I do instructions, but in youtube and recording myself building the MOCs. I don't know until what point this is stealable. Maybe if somebody took the time to follow along and made an LDD file. It may not be worth a company's time to pay someone to do that. But if a fan of your work did and posted it online, then it could be grabbed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mesabi Posted October 11, 2016 Wait Lepin is stealing MOCs now too? Can anyone post a link to one? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted October 11, 2016 19 minutes ago, Mesabi said: Wait Lepin is stealing MOCs now too? Can anyone post a link to one? It was discussed over in the Lepin topic over in the Community Forum -> http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/140382-lepin-brings-out-monster-fighters-haunted-house-16007/&do=findComment&comment=2671812 No need to duplicate it here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adamskii Posted October 11, 2016 Why is Lepin being discussed here and not in the community forum? Moderators can we have a consensus of where Lepin can be discussed? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted October 11, 2016 7 hours ago, Adamskii said: Why is Lepin being discussed here and not in the community forum? Moderators can we have a consensus of where Lepin can be discussed? Well, this topic seems to be specifically about "how can I keep MOCs I publish from being stolen and monetized by others?" I think that's an issue that sort of transcends the topic of clone brands, since even a person selling genuine LEGO parts could hypothetically try and take credit for your MOCs the same way these clone brands do. But perhaps even that would be a better fit for the Community forum? In any case you're right that it's ultimately up to the mods. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hachiroku Posted October 11, 2016 (edited) 11 hours ago, Adamskii said: Why is Lepin being discussed here and not in the community forum? Moderators can we have a consensus of where Lepin can be discussed? 3 hours ago, Aanchir said: Well, this topic seems to be specifically about "how can I keep MOCs I publish from being stolen and monetized by others?" I think that's an issue that sort of transcends the topic of clone brands, since even a person selling genuine LEGO parts could hypothetically try and take credit for your MOCs the same way these clone brands do. But perhaps even that would be a better fit for the Community forum? In any case you're right that it's ultimately up to the mods. I opened here because i didn't see the thread in the Community forum. i f you want to mve it or merge it, go ahead. 21 hours ago, dr_spock said: Maybe if somebody took the time to follow along and made an LDD file. It may not be worth a company's time to pay someone to do that. But if a fan of your work did and posted it online, then it could be grabbed. Then I have a problem. I saw a lot of LDDs of my MOCs. I won't stop the people doing them, but I should keep an eye on what Lupin III is doing. Edited October 11, 2016 by hachiroku Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peppermint_M Posted October 11, 2016 I'll move this across to Community. But this topic is getting pretty close to the no-mention list. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites