Friday, February 24, 2012

Copyright in the fashion industry

Every time there is a copyright discussion among fiber artists, it ends up bad, 'every one' knows it all, and 'they' hold the truth.

I run away from those discussions, I acknowledge those who serve as inspiration and ask for permission to use a technique...(bad experience with this one)...long story, not worth the trouble.

However, things might be different than everyone thinks.

The facts are:
  • Copying a pattern, and selling it as is, is illegal.
  • Copying patterns to include as free with yarn purchase, is illegal.
  • Techniques (such as stitch patterns), caston methods, are not under copyright protection. EVEN if it was an original idea.
  • A garment made based on a finished garment, or a picture, is not illegal. You had to do the math.

  • Using someone's idea without acknowledgement is RUDE.


  • ETA: This is important enough to pull out of the commnents. Fleegle wrote:
    "And you forgot the most important point. Forbidding someone from selling something made from your pattern is not legal. If you purchase a pattern, you have every right to sell the finished product, regardless of the bafflegab on the pattern itself."
    Thank you! for valuable input.


Enjoy! and play nice! Johanna Blakley on TED

2 comments:

fleegle said...

And you forgot the most important point. Forbidding someone from selling something made from your pattern is not legal. If you purchase a pattern, you have every right to sell the finished product, regardless of the bafflegab on the pattern itself.

Cheryl Goyer said...

I feel the same way about copyright discussions. And, I wondered why you could buy woodworking plans to build and sell something legally and have it not be legal to sell something you've knit from a pattern. Thank you fleegle for clearing that up.