Industry "Hall Monitor" Drew Williams rats out a fellow sculptor

I was disgusted to see the following snippet on FROTHERS UNITE!, a U.K. discussion board about gaming (like TMP but far more foul mouthed and earthy.. very euro-centric). The topic was a poll about Intellectual Property rights and miniatures lines.

The "RULE" you play by is MONEY.
How much money are you making with the piece.
How much money the infringed party has to spend or loose.
How much money it costs to file a suite.

There is a business among us that makes blatant Predator knockoffs at 28mm. I contacted the movie studio legal department directly, shared the url with them and we talked. He said that it was obvious infringement, but unless the company is raking in over $200k per annum with the product, the studio will not lift a finger.

But then a much much smaller business like GW has alot more to loose in revenues and "good will" by letting the same thing happen at meerly $40k or $50k per annum, and they will often take the case to the knockoff business without delay.

It is also to do with the actual people in any relevant legal office and how busy they are already of course. But most of the time, nobody will scream Bloody Mary unless they either see (or forsee) serious money to be made or lost.

Just consider the big fish and the little fish. GW works hard to rip the f%$# out of all sorts of IPs, but they can get away with it because they retain a strong legal office.
_________________
Drew Williams
Professional Miniatures Sculptor
Satyr Studio
http://www.satyrsculptingstudio.com

Drew Williams, on the Frothers Unite Message Board, June 6, 2006

At first Williams comes off as an over-zealous protector of intellectual property rights, and I guess we should all say "rah rah rah" to that (weakly) because there's so many kinda-sorta similar sculpts in the miniatures hobby.. why? Because gamers want them!

The post caused comment both on Frothers (where Drew W. was roundly castigated as being a "shithead" for ratting out a fellow sculptor) and on TMP, where a poll generated (and is still generating) a spirited discussion (with far fewer expletives). One of the comments was interesting:

The offending sculptor was Drew Williams of Wizkids – because they have an AVP line coming out shortly.

(by "offending", he means the guy who reported the alleged IP theft. By "AVP" he must mean "Alien versus Predator")

Well, that adds a little self-interest into the issue, doesn't it?

Perhaps Drew Williams was acting in selfless concern for the due process of law and the rights of 20th Century Fox (or is it Paramount) to hold their IP close to their chest. In any event, it didn't avail to much, and thankfully, the "offending company" (which many suppose to be Mark Copplestone) is not financially ruined by Williams' actions. I hope this guy isn't the same guy who ratted Eureka out about Planet of the Apes and Starship Trooper bug figure knock-offs.


Drew Williams and Keith Williams of Satyr Sculpting Studios

I don't have much of a dog to hunt here. I try to respect copyright and IP as much as possible (note the great lengths I go to to attribute quotes on this blog). I won't willingly poach on another's IP (although I will sythesize an idea to make something new, I consider that reasonable). But I ALSO wouldn't do what Williams did, and place another small company at risk. It's very difficult to make me believe that self-interest wasn't at work here. Sorry, I'm not buying it.