Definition of fair use for copying one sheet of an aircraft blueprint.

[VikingCNP]

I just received my Jodel D11 plans. Can I take the section of the wing rib profile for duplication for use during the fabrication process? I am viewing this as a fair use issue. I don’t want to accidentally destroy the wing Rib pattern if I can make a copy for personal use. In no way shape or form would I violate the ownership rights by giving away copies. To me this seems just like buying a CD. You can make a copy for fair personal use reasons. If anyone has any articles or references about this issue I would appreciate the link.

[rv8bldr]

It seems to me that you can make as many copies as you like as long as you only build one airplane from the plans and don't share the copies. I have the originals plus two copies of the plans for my Bearhawk. The copy in my shop has been beaten to death (torn pages, fluids, etc) over the last few years and will soon be replaced with the second copy.

My $0.02

[CraigCantwell]

Make a full set of working copies and use them in the shop. Keep the originals protected somewhere and only pull them out to make a fresh working copy. Fair use and copy write come into play when you are incorporating the work into something new, or you are going to distribute copies of an original item. It would also come into play, if you were using the drawings to produce parts based on them, and selling the parts.

[Airmutt]

You should be able to make all the copies you need for your personal use without issue. Just be aware some copiers do not yield 1:1 copies. So if you intend to use a copy as a template, check for dimensional correctness first.

[rwanttaja]

US Copyright Office has a summary of "Fair Use":

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html

The main point as far as your situation is the... "Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." Copying the plans for your own use has no effect on the market for the plans or their value, hence it qualifies under Fair Use. Go right ahead.

Ron Wanttaja

[VikingCNP]

That was what the academic in me said. I know that office max can do full size transcriptions this the question. Sometimes copy shops get difficult about making copies. I bought a jodel D18 model from the Vintage Model Company. I am going to build that next for the purpose of improving my 3 dimensional thinking. :)

[mmarien]

I had a digital copy scanned of the plans for my project. I work from the screen for planning, but print portions of the plans for the things I'm working on. If they get messed up, I can always print another one. If I'm going to cut out a metal part, I print it out on sticky back labels and stick it to the metal sheet I'm going to cut it out from. I rarely look at the original plans.

As mentioned above, use caution on the scaling.