On Aug 11, 2016, at 3:35 AM, Anna <origa...@gmail.com> wrote: ...it is possible to use a completely different folding sequence to come to a structurally identical model. So is this still the same model? I mean the outcome may be similar, but the path to get there isn't. ………………. I wonder this because sometimes for really simple models someone folds a single fold differently and calls it hos own model. ------------- And then I've got a second question that is even more pressing for me. Lets say I've derived at my own folding sequence for a specific model and I want to share it with the world by publishing diagrams for it, am I allowed to? Do I need permission from the author?
Hello Anna, To answer part of your question, I’d say that if the final structure is identical or very nearly identical, it counts as the same model, regardless of the folding sequence. I say this in part because I sometimes use different folding sequences for my own designs, and in no way do I think, “I just invented a new model!” No, I discovered a new way to get to the model. By analogy, if someone were to discover an island in the Pacific Ocean by sailing east from Japan, and someone else discovered it by sailing west from California, the first person to get there gets to say that they discovered it. You can’t say, “I took a different route, so the island is new.” Similarly, if a pharmaceutical company has the patent on a medicine, another company can’t sell the same product with the claim that “I made it using a different method.” If it’s the same chemical, it’s the same product. I do think, however, that someone can take credit for discovering a new and ingenious folding method, but if I were do do that for, say, the Kawasaki Rose, it would still the Kawasaki Rose, but perhaps “folded using the Matthew Green method”. Therefore, I’d say you also have to ask permission to publish diagrams for a new method for someone else’s model, because the goal is to make the model; the folding sequence is the method, not the goal. I think people do sometimes incorrectly claim that they “invented” a model when they simply made a minor modification to an existing model. That’s my two cents on this topic… Have a great day! Matthew Green Monterrey, Mexico
