11 hours ago, Do I need a Username said:

Do we even know that the Disney artist saw the design?

Pretty obviously, I'd say. There are a lot of minor details that are..."suspiciously coincidental" if not. As in...an improbable number of simultaneous coincidences.

As well as that artist being known for just tracing in a LOT of his artwork.

On 11/12/2018 at 11:09 PM, Ewok on Stilts said:

Traditionally, american companies are far more lenient about fan content. As lng as you dont infringe on their copyright they dont give a flying forklift. We all know a popular 3D modeler who sells models for X-Wing and Armada that includes content from the latest movies. If Disney hasn't come down there, why would they come down on an artist who artwork was copied by one of their artist?

I'm pretty sure the original artist can claim fair use, and the comic using the design without acknowledging him is plagiarism.

That artist I believe you're citing did end up getting paid for by LFL to use several of his designs in books. Complete guide to Warfare is one book.

Disclaimer: IANAL, but I did used to be a copyright lobbyist and researcher, and did go through law school.

The comic is almost certainly infringing the artist's copyright (at least in my jurisdiction). The test for copyright infringement is if you copied a substantial part of the original work. Here, going with the original images uploaded (or maybe the model), there's a pretty good case for copying, and pretty much all aspects of the image were copied.

Sure, the artist might be infringing trade marks (although probably not) and maybe infringing copyrights in other Star Wars stuff (but again, probably not given how transformative it is - at least with this design), but two wrongs rarely make a right in law.

Of course, all of this is legal theory. Enforcing copyrights and trade marks and so on (particularly involving big media companies and the Internet) rarely comes down to what the law is, and is more about agreements between companies and whatever people can get away with.

In this case, though, probably worth sending a polite email to them (they even include a "write to us" email address in the comics), pointing out that they seem to have borrowed the image, and maybe someone needs to have a chat about that.

The ship design is pretty neat. Engines are slightly jarring, but definitely shiny overall.