Schuyler Larrabee wrote:

Not only that, Chuck, but as the creator (note that word) of CAD
files that represent a pre-existing and no-longer-extant object (a
steam engine) I can tell you that it involved a LOT of creativity.
It isn't (yet) the source material for a model, but took a very long
time to develop the graphic representation of the three-d object,
making interpretations and testing them against each other. I am
just floored, Dave, that you would not consider the creation of scale
drawings a creative act.

I made it,
It's artwork.
It's copyrighted.
It's mine.

SGL

Not necessarilly. See Meshworks v Toyota.

Per that decision, 3d cad models exhibt no creativity for those elements
that are accurately representing a real world object and therefore cannot be
copyrighted. IIRC, the decision referenced an earlier decision WRT scale
pencil drawings which had come to the same conclusion. So make an accurate
representation of a Camel door or Dreadnaught Brand car end and bingo, it is
in the public domain because all you contributed was research time, drawing
skill, and labor, **but not creativity**. Essentially, all you did was make
a drawing (or cad model) of someone else's creative stuff.

FWIW, I do 3d cad work daily and I too was floored by this... But there it
is.

Dave Nelson