La Renommée 1744 de CAFMODEL

Yes indeed, I worked with CAF directly along with Didier at Ancre to facilitate this new agreement. [...] CAF did in fact pirate work from Ancre and they wish to make amends.

Here is that statement from Tom At CAF Models actually admitting to have copied the work from ANCRE without permission and thanking me and the NRG for mediating the discussions. I am also expecting a similar statement from Ancre very soon which I publish here.

"Hello all, I'm Tom from Shanghai, China. My English is not very good. I use Google translation software to communicate

I am very grateful to MSW, the communication platform, for letting me see a lot of excellent works, for letting me see a lot of production experience, and for letting me learn and progress from it

Now I have a small studio cafmodel. We mainly develop the kit of the model,

Previously, La salamander, Le Requn, La Belle, La renommee, La jacinthe, HMS enterprise, HMS Bellona have been developed

At the beginning, I didn't pay attention to the copyright, but now I gradually understand that my product has the problem of infringement, and I think I should make changes

I make a statement

CAF models has recently been contacted by Chuck Passaro of the Nautical Research Guild. I am very thankful for his guidance. Chuck has worked with me to address my use of Ancre plans for my kits that all of you are familiar with. He has made it possible for me to meet Mr.Berti of Ancre so we can discuss rectifying the situation. He introduced me to Mr Berti. I apologize to Ancre for copying their plans without permission or compensation and through this introduction I have now come to an agreement with Ancre which now enables me to sell my kits with a legitimate relationship between us. I appreciate the time and professional relationship I now have with Chuck, Didier Berti and the NR G. Chuck has informed me that CAF models and my kits will now be welcomed on Model Ship World and I am very grateful for this. Thank you

I hope to get the understanding of Ancre publishing house that I will stop selling all infringing products before obtaining production authorization

Tom"

Tom at CAF literally admitted to simply scanning and tracing every single element of the Ancre plans. There was no achievement. Literally 1 to 1 copies. And now they are paying handsomely for it. They are making restitution for all past sales of Ancre stolen kits as well as future sales. There is absolutely no gray area here. Literally scanned and copied. They did zero research and zero development. CAF even included all the reconstructions the Ancre authors incorporated into their designs, including the mistakes.
[...]
Some more correspondence from the negotiations....this is a real business we are talking about here. I would have needed to pay these royalties to do it ethically.
From Ancre (Didier) to me.... [...]
"Chuck, Thank you for this contact and your will regarding the fight against piracy. In this approach, the NRG shows once again that it is a pioneer in the naval world. Your willingness to mediate shows how much you support this hobby and our writers and researchers. To take such actions without any compensation or reward for yourself is exemplary. Thank You.
I know Mr CAO Feng as a customer who bought our monographs. We did not know he used them to copy our monographs. Ancre also believes that to legitimize its kits through an agreement on future royalty royalties on the sale of existing kits: La Salamandre, La Renommée, Le Requin, La Belle 1684, Bonhomme Richard, (Chaloupe armée) ARMED LONGBOAT- 1834, and La Jacinthe and others. Tom must admit to copying them.
To reach this agreement we need data on the number of kits already sold and forecasts for the future by year and am willing to meet with him and talk about a resolution."
And the email continues along with another 3 weeks of correspondence between both parties.
We have absolutely NOTHING against the Chinese, but we abhor piracy of any kind. In fact, one of these chinese companies is now producing all of the carved elements for my latest Winchelsea project. They didnt steal it....we worked on it together.

Chuck