Editing ChapterHouse Studios (section)

==Stopping this from happening to YOU==
You CAN be sued for creating your own conversions of anyone's models, but so long as they are for non-commercial use, the lawsuit will in practice be thrown out by the judge once it reaches that step of the lawsuit.  This is universal (Western) tort law; you can be sued by anyone for anything, but unless there are potential damages to award, the suit cannot go anywhere.

If you ARE making money off of your conversion, this leads to questions about the nature of the conversion and the nature of the money, which means the lawsuit will go farther. 

====Idea-Expression Divide====

This was ChapterHouse's defense (when it succeeded): Facts, ideas, and processes are not copyrightable, only specific expressions of facts and ideas. If someone writes down a description of a model, they have a copyright on what they just wrote - NOT on the model described.  If you make a model based on the description before they do (copyright is about whoever makes it first), you own the copyright to that model. In this context, the word "conversion" has no meaning, and the model or model component you have produce is not actually a conversion or part of one - it is your original work. This is how and why model-less cases like the Mycetic Spore went away - Geedubs didn't make a model before CHS, so CHS making models for them was considered original work.

====First Sale====

This is what lets retail stores exist.  If you buy a thing, you may sell that thing, because it is yours.  This is object specific, meaning that if you buy a Land Raider model, you may then sell that specific model - the First Sale doctrine has no bearing on you then producing more models on your own.  You may also modify that thing before selling it, of course - for example, you may build and paint the model, *then* sell it, which is why people selling off their old models on e.g. [http://ebay.com ebay] is fundamentally protected.  This absolutely means you can buy GW models on an item by item basis, converting them as you go and then selling them off - this is exactly what people do when they, as just mentioned, sell off their armies on [http://ebay.com ebay].

====Fair Use====

[http://tsoalr.com/ Turn Signals On A Land Raider] was a web comic parodying WH40K, and hence was as quintessential an example of "'''Fair Use"''' as exists anywhere - Fair Use is the primary affirmative defense in copyright lawsuits (remember, it's an affirmative defense: You are arguing that even if the allegations in the suit are true, you are protected from liability; this means that you've been sued and are defending yourself in court with it, so you're playing with fire).  TSOALR was threatened by GW with a lawsuit, and it was making money - it had ads on its site - and was using WH40K IP to do so, so the lawsuit would not have been thrown out.  

Unfortunately, Fair Use has not been rigorously or objectively defined in any jurisdiction on the planet, so it's the judge's call, based on the case at hand and any relevant precedent.  TSOALR would still easily have won (parody is a subset of criticism, which is the most heavily enshrined kind of Fair Use), but it would have been expensive to do so (TSOALR would have needed to hire a defence lawyer, which needed money they didn't have). If you intend to protect yourself with Fair Use, familiarize yourself beforehand with the relevant cases you're going to claim as precedent and why you think it's fair use, and be prepared to shell out gobs of money to deal with GW shitting all over you.  TSOALR folded rather than go to court, and so we lost one of the mainstays of WH40K fandom (at least until 2018, when GW themselves went and ''hired the author'', so they could [https://www.warhammer-community.com/tsoalr/ officially revive it]).

====Public Domain====

If no one holds the copyright to the model you're converting, no one can claim damages against you in court.  There aren't many models in the public domain, but if you do find one, do with it whatever you like - that's the whole point of it.

The significance of this is that, apparently, all historical items fall into the public domain. It's hard to explain why Flames of War, Warlord Games, Trumpeter, Tamiya and other all make Sherman tank models without suing the snot out of each other. This would in turn explain Games Workshop's move to rebrand the "Imperial Guard" and "Storm Troopers", both terms used by real world military units, to the more trademarkable "Astra Militarum" and "Tempestus Scions."

====Not All IP is Copyright====

The above defences work against *copyright* lawsuits; trademark infringement (and patent, but odds are incredibly slim you'll run up against patent law for this) is an entirely different discussion.  Trademark infringement is trivial to defend against, if you want to play it really safe, because trademarks apply only to incredibly specific expressions of ideas, like 'Astra Militarum'.  If you just don't use those terms, trademark isn't relevant and can't be successfully brought against you.  Trademarks are usually where it becomes relevant to get a license from the owning company, because trademarks serve as an indication of the origin of the good or service.
:For example: if you sell female Imperial Guard you made yourself, but call them Astra Militarum, customers might get confused about where the models are coming from, and conclude that GW is the original source of the models; or in other situations, even if the customer is completely aware of the third party source, they might believe due to the use of the name that the models are officially sanctioned or licensed by GW. If you did this to intentionally mislead them, it would be considered fraud.

There is no surer trademark defense than not using the trademark anywhere, if you want to go into some sort of business based off of someone else's IP.  There are other defenses - for example, it is by definition not a trademark violation to simply use a trademarked expression to identify the owner of the trademarked expression, so while you could for example: put out ads saying that your paint schemes are totally better looking than Games Workshop's, and GW's attempt to sue you over your use of their trademarked name will ultimately fail, you might then fall foul of legislative advertising standards in your jurisdiction by making unverifiable comparisons or unfairly using the reputation of another company ''(which is why you don't see GW, Privateer Press or Wizards of the Coast referencing each other in adverts)'' - therefore trademarks are iffy enough that you should consult a lawyer before doing *anything* with a trademarked expression.  You're better off keeping it generic, like: ''"conversion kits compatible with most 28mm models"'' or ''"painting services for tabletop wargaming models"''. 

So while GW's new trend of changing names ''(Imperial Guard > Astra Militarum, Space Marines > Adeptus Astartes and others)'' makes sense, since not having enforceable trademarks for things practically invites other manufacturers to invent their own models and call them by similar names. So by putting their unique and legally protected signature all over it is something they should have actually started their business with, since other producers cannot '''legally''' sell their products using a GW trademark and create market confusion ''(bootleggers/re-casters don't care however)''. But since Trademark and Copyright remain two totally '''separate''' issues of IP law, just because you're not infringing trademarks don't think you're automatically protected from copyright infringement. Even if you call your new third party model by completely generic names ''(or even names you believe are original)'', you may still have to demonstrate on a model-by-model basis that it is an original and distinct design and form of artistic expression and run the risk of a lawsuit if your new model is too similar to something that has come before.