Custom assets - opinions?

[MrBehemoth]

Howdy. I'm trying to canvass opinions about the re-use of custom assets. Most modding communities have a strong leaning one way or another, but it varies (and searching the forum for the words "custom assets" was understandably useless).

First, my feeling and the thinking behind it... (slightly OT and self-indulgent)

Spoiler below!

My own personal reason for embarking into the world of Amnesia modding is that I am trying to get development practice and start building a brand that I am eventually going to launch into a small, part-time indie studio (hence the Aetheric Games logo's I stamp all over my work). I've already got a free point-and-click game on Desura and after Black Aether my next project will be a commercial one. I love story-driven dark-fantasy/horror games, so modding for HPL2 makes sense, especially as it comes with the relevant narrative tools and an enthusiastic and reachable audience.
That's why, with The Trapdoor, I wanted to do something that actually changed the game mechanics, in however small a way, and with Black Aether I am also trying to create a mod that no longer looks and feels like Amnesia. My hope is that when my first commercial game is released, the target audience (fans of narrative driven horror) will recognise the Aetheric Games brand. Grandiose pipe-dream or sensible marketing strategy, it is what it is.
Also, I'm putting in a lot of hours at the moment creating models and materials. I would hate for someone to play Mod-X and then play Black Aether and think "Oh, this guys just re-used all the furniture models from Mod-X". On top of severely kicking my puppy, I think that would harm the brand I want to build. I dunno.

...All of that is why I want to protect the custom assets that I'm creating. Maybe it makes me a bad person, but I'd prefer it if people didn't re-use them. At all.

But, for the most part, this is a very supportive and inclusive community and I appreciate that, so I want to know what people's thoughts are before releasing anything plastered with warnings or even before I put in too much of Aetheric Games' energy into it, if that makes sense. So, my questions are these:

• As a community, do we expect to be allowed to re-use custom assets?
  
• Would a mod developer be seen as stingy or precious if they assert copyright?
  
• Will people go ahead and re-use anyway?
  
• Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences with either sharing or protecting their assets?
  
• Am I over thinking this?

Cheers!
And apologies if this has already been discussed - I just couldn't find anything about it.


Edit: Also apologies if you came here expecting to see some custom assets - I just realised the title could imply that. The first trailer for Black Aether is not far off, so I'll show some stuff soon.