Hi Larry,
how’s it going?
Oh dear; you may well not like the following questions, if so, I apologise in advance.
I’m currently building some fins for myself, and I’ve already got one surf-buddy who, upon hearing of this, is interested in me building a set of fins for them which they can’t get anymore (they’re no longer in production).
If they turn out well, I wouldn’t be surprised if other surf-buddies start wanting fins from me too; probably something more custom (e.g. same dimensions as the fins they’re currently running but with different flex or maybe a different foil, etc), but irregardless of what it is, I suspect there’s a good chance they’ll be asking for all kinds of different fin bases on them. Futures, FCS, FCS II, Pro-Box/Gearbox, longboard fin-box style, etc.
I’m happy to help them out with this (as spare time allows) as I think I’ll get a real kick out of watching the difference it’ll (hopefully) make to their surfing, but I don’t want to break any laws in doing so.
So what are the legalities of doing this? -> If I’m interpreting the summary of the FCS vs Surfco judgement (see here: http://www.justice.gov/osg/brief/fin-control-systems-v-surfco-hawaii-amicus-invitation-petition) correctly, I get the impression it’s legal to make fins with any kind of fin-base on them you want (i.e. not just the FCS original-style dual square-tab ones that the court case was about).
And that there’s no requirement to obtain a license to do so, nor to pay royalties to the companies that manufacture those fin systems.
Is this true?
Different story though with the fin-boxes -> you can’t make them without doing the above(?).
'Reason I ask that one is that a lot of my surf-buddies like to collect and ride old boards. So I think there’s a fair chance that one day one of them will come to me with an ancient board whose fin is fine and which they dearly want to keep using, but whose ancient fin-box is busted beyond repair, and is something which you just can’t buy nowadays. In that case the easiest option may well will be to try and fabricate something in the way of the original fin-box to get the board working for them again; would I be breaking any rules in doing so?
In regards to replicating an out-of-production fin for my friend (assuming I can get access to a set of the originals and measure up it’s dimensions and flex rate), will I be breaking any laws in doing this? I’ll be using a different construction method to the originals (and I probably won’t be able to exactly replicate its characteristics because of that), but if I end up doing better than I expect and getting pretty close, what’s the law around that? If you’re not allowed to do that; what’s the lee-way around that/how close can you get to replicating it exactly without infringing on any patents/copyright?
Mind you, the legal information I referred to above is just for under U.S. law - is it different elsewhere (e.g. I’m from Australia and I’m not sure what the deal is here)?
Cheers!
