Editing Origami (section)

==Ethics and copyright==
Copyright in origami designs and the use of models has become an increasingly important issue in the origami community, as the internet has made the sale and distribution of pirated designs very easy.<ref>{{cite book |title=Origami Kit for Dummies |first=Nick |last=Robinson |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-470-75857-1 |year=2008 |pages=36–38}}</ref> It is considered good etiquette to always credit the original artist and the folder when displaying origami models. It has been claimed that all commercial rights to designs and models are typically reserved by origami artists; however, the degree to which this can be enforced has been disputed. Under such a view, a person who folds a model using a legally obtained design could publicly display the model unless such rights were specifically reserved, whereas folding a design for money or commercial use of a photo for instance would require consent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Origami Copyright Analysis+FAQ |url=http://origamiusa.org/files/OrigamiUSA%20Copyright%20Analysis+FAQ.pdf |publisher=[[OrigamiUSA]] |year=2008 |page=9}}</ref> The [http://digitalorigami.com/oac/ Origami Authors and Creators] group was set up to represent the copyright interests of origami artists and facilitate permissions requests.

However, a court in Japan has asserted that the folding method of an origami model "comprises an idea and not a creative expression, and thus is not protected under the copyright law".<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.keisenassociates.com/japanese-origami-artist-loses-copyright-battle-against-television-station-2/|title = Japanese Origami Artist Loses Copyright Battle With Japanese Television Station| date=November 21, 2012 |access-date = 3 Sep 2015|publisher = Keissen Associates}}</ref> Further, the court stated that "the method to folding origami is in the public domain; one cannot avoid using the same folding creases or the same arrows to show the direction in which to fold the paper". Therefore, it is legal to redraw the folding instructions of a model of another author even if the redrawn instructions share similarities to the original ones, as long as those similarities are "functional in nature". The redrawn instructions may be published (and even sold) without necessity of any permission from the original author.