Bigfoot Decals

[stillwater]

I happened to come across a Bigfoot decal on the internet a while back. They can be ordered left or right and different sizes and a couple of different colors. I got one to try and it worked good for my spare tire cover. I repainted the cover then applied the decal then clearcoated over everything.
The name of the website is Custom Decals by FastDecals.com

[Bob Miller]

Er.... The Bigfoot "Ape" is a copyright protected design and the different decals are available from BighFoot's parts department.

[Jack L]

I purchased some from this company a year ago, and I recall the decal they sell is not an exact copy .

[Bob Miller]

I agree, it's has several differences from the real thing, but a replica doesn't have to be an exact copy to be an infringement of copyright. In that you bought that one in lieu of the real thing is an infringement of their property.


When small companies have to spend money on legal issues it just makes it that much more difficult to stay in business.


When we refurbished our Lil Bigfoot we spent almost $300 on genuine BigFoot graphics.

[Badger]

From what I have read on here when Bigfoot came out of bankruptcy in 2005 they disavowed anything to do with the old company. Up to and including answering questions for owners of trailers made prior to 2005.

Now I'm not 100% certain about this since I'm not a trademark attorney but since the "new" Bigfoot company disavowed anything to do with the old company wouldn't they have given up the copyright privileges?

[mszabo]

Same picture that's on the cover of of my owners manual.
I wonder where they got the picture?

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by Badger

From what I have read on here when Bigfoot came out of bankruptcy in 2005 they disavowed anything to do with the old company. Up to and including answering questions for owners of trailers made prior to 2005.

Now I'm not 100% certain about this since I'm not a trademark attorney but since the "new" Bigfoot company disavowed anything to do with the old company wouldn't they have given up the copyright privileges?

If they bought the "assets" of the old company, at least under U.S. law, they would also have acquired any existing copyrights. If not, they would have been foolish to not reapply

[mszabo]

That assuming it was trademark or copyright.
And we both know what assuming does, don't we?

[Bob Miller]

Before I ever buy anything that may be a bootleg product I try to ask first. Ignorance of the situation is no excuse.....


Needless to say I wouldn't buy a Gucci or a Coach handbag for $50 on the street in L.A. and I don't even have to ask if they were copyright first.


At least in the lower provinces, trademark graphics are always considered to be covered by copyright, even if they are not marked as such.


But the point is that small companies can't afford to waste money protecting copyrights, so don't give them that need.....

[mszabo]

I bet you would look good carrying a Gucci bag.

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by mszabo

I bet you would look good carrying a Gucci bag.

I admit that I DO look good with Gucci bags, I just loved the set of Gucci bags in Blazing Saddles, but I prefer buying my B&D (that's Booni and Dirk) bags at the flea market.... lol

[Evergreengirl]

I got that same graphic from someone here on the forums! He was someone I met at the Oregon Gathering who had refurbished his trailer and he sent the graphic to me as a jpg file (I think). Anyway I used it when we redid the striping and graphics on our trailer. The sign company that did the work said they also had a copy of that graphic in their database. Theft of copyrighted material? Maybe. Or even probably. I'm not too worried nor do I feel particularly guilty of a high crime and I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I think Bigfoot has other things on its plate than going after owners of old Bigfoot trailers who just want to make them look better. In fact when I called Bigfoot Industries to inquire about where to get graphics they were very unhelpful, saying they didn't have anything for old trailers like ours and I just needed to work with a local sign company. And we were even willing to take our trailer up there to have them do the work. So Bob Miller's experience was different than ours.

Oh, and the tire cover looks nice, Lyle!

[Bob Miller]

We selected our Bigfoot graphics by looking at images of current production units. Their parts dept was very helpful and asked for pics of ours when the job was done so as to be able to make suggestions to other Lil' Bigfoot owners looking for replacement graphics.


There is a big difference between "Working with a local sign company" for restoring unavailable graphics and selling copyright protected graphics on eBay for a profit.


FWIW: Even though they may still be copyright protected, replicating unavailable copyright materials for personal use is an allowable use. Just don't sell them.