We're all hurt by piracy and it's great that Denny is speaking up against it and the fans are also working against it.

Just in the interest of discussion, there are various uses (legitimate and illegitimate) of paper models. Here are some cases I see. I'd appreciate some comments here as to how others see this.

ABSOLUTELY LEGITIMATE
1) Person purchases a model set, prints and builds models for his own use or gives finished builds as gifts.

PROBABLY LEGITIMATE
2) Person purchases a model set, prints and builds some models, and then sells the finished builds (on eBay or at a garage sale, to a game shop, etc). Person identifies WWG and not himself as the source of the images, person is only the builder (ink, card stock expenses, his time as a skilled builder). [NOTE: This would be like someone who purchases a model kit of an airplane or ship, for example, and then pays someone else to build it. Thus someone might buy a WWG set and have someone else build it for him who knows what he's doing. The difference of course is in who did the buying. If I buy a WWG set and start cranking out models to sell ... that's somewhat different than building models for someone else.]

LEGITIMATE?
3) Person purchases a model set, prints some models, and then sells the unbuilt, uncut sheets (on eBay, garage sale, game shop, etc). Person identifies WWG and not himself as the source of the images, he only printed them out (ink, card stock expenses). [NOTE: I have to admit I haven't read the license file, telling me what I can and can't do with WWG files or models I build from them, that must come with WWG sets. I'll have to check into that when I get home. I assume there is such a license.]

NOT LEGITIMATE
4) Person purchases a model set and then duplicates the files (on CDs or any other medium) and gives away or sells the CDs.

5) Person purchases a model set and then posts the files to a file sharing site.

6) Person downloads a model set or otherwise receives it without paying and then does any of the other things above.

Lest I get flamed, please know that I have done none of these except #1 above, but it occurs to me there is a spectrum of how people use WWG or other paper models that is worth discussing.

One more situation:

7) Person downloads free models advertised as such (there are many) and then does any of the above. Seems like no limitations there.

johnnygs wrote about hiring someone else to build your models for you. That is borderline legal, depending upon the license issued with the model set. I own several Prince August molds, which come with a license stating that I cannot sell figures produced with their molds, unless I contact them, and work out an acceptable royalty.

This situation gets muddied up when I then paint the figures, and sell them. I've sold off some painted and mounted (completely finished, not just primed and based on white basing material) wolf figures, which I needed 60 copies of, for a "Battle of Five Armies" game. After the game, I no longer needed 60 wolves, so I sold off around 20 of them. Is this illegal? Perhaps, according to the letter of the license agreement, but not according to the spirit of the license agreement. I wasn't mass producing figures to sell, I was selling off finished figures I had used, in a large game. They were used, fully painted, fully mounted figures, which had been in my collection for nearly a year, after being used in the aforementioned game.

I guess what I would recommend, is that people carefully read the license agreement issued by WWG, and abide by it's spirit, first, and letter, second. By this I mean, give WWG their due; honor the creator/maker with your wallet -- pay the man! Otherwise, we could see WWG disappear, leaving us with an inferior product, or [GASP!] no product. Support those who support your hobby.

This is the second 'Golden Age' of gaming, in my 25 year history of this hobby (the first, IMO, was during the mid-1980's). I am enjoying hanging 10, riding the crest of the great wave, and I want it to see it last! Cheers!

For most things like being paid to paint a mini, etc. These are perfectly legal services to offer. If you want a miniature painted by an expert for one of your games, you or the artist can buy the mini, he paints it and charges you for his materials/services. The miniatures company (i.e. Reaper, GW, etc.) gets their cut when the figure is purchased, the artist gets his fee for his time and trouble, and you get what you paid for. Also, there is only copy of the item involved in the transaction so there's no real way to "pirate" the mini other than physically stealing the figure itself.

With models like Hirst Arts Molds and WorldWorks, I think it's legally kosher to -for instance- print (or cast) and build a model then sell the finished product. Or, perhaps, if someone who owns a WWG set on pdf prints and gives you the cardstock sheets to assemble for a fee. The point is, only one copy of the source material (the pdfs or molds) is in use, and the creators of the source material have been paid for it. (i.e. Denny)

Now, if someone were to print and build something like the Maiden, then sell it to a buyer and include a copy of the pdf files on CD, that would definitiely be over the line.

Is this legally on-target? Denny? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I'm also curious whether or not it would be legal to sell built up versions of the models. I don't want to do so myself (not worth the time for me, and I'd rather people just learned to do their own stuff) but I am curious (as I often am).

The resale of PDFs is a bit trickier, both in terms of legality (here I speak only for the US, since that's all I know about) and licensing.

In general, reselling electronic items is ok, so long as the first owner does not retain any kind of copy. Given the nature of these particular PDFs, it's hard to say exactly what a "copy" really means. Does "copy" refer to only the electronic file, or the electronic file and the hardcopy prints that you made from said file? If the later, then, legally speaking, the original owner would have to either destroy or surrender the hardcopy along with the PDF. If only the former, then they'd simply have to delete their copy of the PDF.

However, the license provided with the PDF may result in different, legally acceptable actions. Since the license specifically states that you cannot redistriubte the file, the question of selling the PDF as long as you delete it from your own harddrive becomes much grayer. Strictly speaking, the license says you can't do that. Now, whether that would hold up to legal scrutiny is something that isn't known at this time, at least as far as I'm aware (there's been no rulings on similar cases that I've seen yet).