I have an incredible new Kickstarter deck of Playing Cards to share with you. The cards are a modern twist to what are known as Spotter Cards created during WWII for Allied forces to help memorize and identify the silhouettes of aircraft so that they can tell friend from foe. I have designed playing cards that depict the silhouettes of 52 different fighter planes that are still actively being used throughout the world. From the F-22 to the MiG, I have done the research and graphics for all 52 cards and created a deck of cards that are amazing! Please check them out, you can find them at Kickstarter under the name of "Modern Fighter Plane Spotter playing Cards". Please share this to anyone you think might be interested! Kickstarter is all about getting the word out and creating a buzz for your project, thank you for your help!
Overall, the design is nice and functional. However, have you contacted USPC already about this deck yet? It's EXTREMELY unlikely that they're going to permit you to make this deck with that back design. They started prohibiting all variants of the Bicycle Rider Back design back in '11. They would ask you to use a different back, either the Mandolin Back or the Maiden Back, and modify that design. They don't even allow magicians to make gaff cards or marked decks in the Rider Back design any more - what you would probably refer to as the "Bicycle design", as it's the most used design today for Bicycle playing cards.
The issue is defense of intellectual property. As the design was first created and printed in 1893, it's no longer protected under copyright law. These days, USPC has it registered as a company trademark instead, a form of protection that's renewable in perpetuity. However, to make the trademark protection enforceable, they can't allow variations of it, which would "dilute" the trademark, to be created. They've been doing this for most of their older designs that are still in common use today. Many a deck design has been canceled or changed as a result of this policy. They also don't permit altered versions of their unique Jokers, Aces of Spades and the "Bicycle" logo - substitutions are perfectly acceptable.
BTW: if you do use the Mandolin Back or the Maiden Back to recreate this design, I'd advise filling in the outline of the jet on the back to make it look like a non-specific fighter jet. I know the front design is all about the silhouettes, but it just makes the back look like something's missing and even your silhouette faces have linework on the jet exteriors.
Rob - I'm not so sure he needs authorization for presenting the silhouettes of any jets used by the American military, unless he's displaying some top-secret design the public doesn't know about. I remember getting a spotter book for jetliners out of a box of Cracker Jack when I was a kid - I don't think there's any copyright issues involved there as long as he's not cribbing the design art from someone else's prior work. When the US made spotter-plane decks of German and Japanese aircraft for World War II, did they have to get copyright permission from the German or Japanese governments? I rather doubt it.
But then again, I'm not a copyright lawyer. Spottercards, if you haven't done your legal due diligence on this project yet, I'd recommend you shut it down now and start crossing those t's and dotting those i's. At the very least, you're going to hit legal issues with that card back, never mind the faces. Speak to a copyright lawyer.
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