Copyright - yes it is

copyright. 

On the 18th December last year I wrote a blog post here about copyright. I have been asked to try and explain the concept a little more.

It is difficult to know how to do this but I will try to do it in relation to the situation the inquirer wanted to know about. She wanted to know about knitting patterns.

When you go into a shop that sells knitting patterns and you buy a pattern then what you buy is the instructions to make something. You have what is known as an "implied" right to make the item. 

You can make the item for yourself. You can also make the item as a gift. If you can't knit then you also have the right to say to someone else, "Please make this for me. I will pay you to do that."

Making the pattern for yourself or as a gift are obvious purposes of the pattern. If you have bought the pattern and the yarn with which to make it and you ask someone else to do it then there is a contract between you and the other person. You are asking them to do the work for you and you are paying them (or should be) to do the work for you. 

There are also other ways in which the pattern can be legitimately used or at least talked about. It might get reviewed in, say, a knitting magazine and criticised. (I spent some years reviewing knitting books for a major knitting magazine and most designers are very happy to have their work reviewed - especially if you have something very positive to say about their work.) 

If it is really outrageous then it might actually get into the news or it might, like Bernie Sanders mittens, be of momentary interest. Something outrageous might also become the subject of a cartoon, of satire or criticism.

It is also possible to use patterns for personal research or study. They can be mentioned in essays or if you are teaching a class but you cannot put the pattern into the essay or hand it out to your students unless you have written it yourself.

If you are using the pattern for personal research or study then you have the right to copy it from a library book for that purpose but you can't hand it on to other people. 

There are also special rules covering the needs of people with disabilities such as copying something in order to enlarge the print  so that a partially sighted person can read it. Sometimes copies can also be made for special purposes - such as arguing a case in a court of law. 

All those things are ways in which a pattern can be legitimately used. There are also times when a designer will give permission for you to use a pattern without paying for it. They may even go so far as to say those items can be made for sale, usually for charitable purposes. They may ask to be acknowledged but not expect any other payment. A commercial company may produce a pamphlet of items and actually say they are intended for use to make items as a fundraiser. By doing this they are granting permission to do it - although there may still be limits on the use - e.g. "for charitable purposes only".

All of these things are lawful.

What you cannot do is buy a pattern which does not state these things, knit the item and put it up for sale hoping that someone will come along and buy it for your financial gain. "Changing" something about the pattern, perhaps the number of buttons or the length of the rib, is not sufficient to prevent the owner of the pattern asserting their rights to the pattern. It does not matter if it is "just a plain old stocking stitch cardigan" if the instructions belong to someone else then you cannot use them. 

Now there are also books of "stitch patterns".  These are intended to be resources for designers and also as a means of other knitters individualising what they are making. Some of these resources, such as Barbara Walker's "treasuries", have been available for many years. Others, like Hitomi Shida's "Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible" are more recent.  The stitch patterns in them can be used by a designer in order to write a pattern because that is the purpose of the book. A professional designer will of course also acknowledge the source of the pattern. 

What is not permitted is for someone to knit a garment for sale according to instructions which have been written by someone else and say they have "substantially altered" it by changing the stitch pattern. That is not the case. You are still using the work of another person. Building a house and changing the side on which the doors are hinged does not mean you have designed the house. 

There is a lot more to copyright than this of course. It is a complex area of the law. Intellectual property law is a minefield. The simple solution to all this seems to me to be as follows.

If you want to knit (or crochet) items for sale for any commercial purpose or your financial advantage then either

(a) design it yourself or 

(b) get written permission from the holder of the copyright to use their work.

B... I hope that helps