Copyright on Purchased Patterns

[pt_tangles]

I'm asking this here, because just about everyone I know who would probably know the answer hangs out here.  At least I hope you all still do :)

If I purchase a pattern for something, say a sweater or a skirt or whathaveyou, can the designer put the condition on the copyright that I cannot then sell the product that I have made?  To me it seems like reaching.  I get not reselling the pattern online, but if I've paid for the instructions, do they really retain the right to decide what I do with something that they didn't make?

I've seen this a couple of times on patterns on ravelry, and I'm thinking that that really can't be enforceable in anyway.  Just because you design something doesn't mean that you own all connections to it until the end of time.  It's reasonable if you are giving it away - maybe - I'm not up on copyright law - but it would seem to me to be in line with having a school teach you how to do something (run a business, lets say) and then saying afterwards that you can't run a business that makes any money because the knowledge you now have is copyrighted to them.

Thoughts?

Comments

[elf]

Um. Sort of? (No.)

The creator of a copyrighted thing can control distribution and sale of copies. They can give you the right to *make* a copy but not to *distribute* it, not to sell it.

Did they make a thing and give you instructions for a copyrighted thing, or did they make a copyrighted pattern, and tell you what you can & can't do with the results of following it? (Possibly both. But whether a sweater is copyrightable is not yet established.)

Because AFAIK, you cannot sell cookie recipes and say "You can't sell cookies you make with this recipe."

However: Cookies aren't copyrightable. An artsy sweater is. (Maybe. The issue of whether a basic sweater is, is undecided.) Most clothing is not copyrightable; the fashion industry got into externally-visible labels when they sorted out that detail. You can make and sell an exact replica of a Gucci purse--except for their trademarked logo.

Is interesting question. I'll poke through what I can find and see if there's any actual legal precedents.

[pt_tangles]

Nope, it's specifically a pattern for an item. Ive seen it on clothes (usually baby clothes) and toys over at Ravelry. It's usually worded something like, 'for personal use only. You cannot sell any items created from this pattern' or some such. Which just strikes me as not kosher. They are usually ok with items made as gifts or for charity, but I don't think that can have a say in an item you created after paying for the instructions/pattern. They've made their money and to my mind their copyright would extend to distribution of the pattern itself - not to items created from it. But I don't really know one way or another.

[pjvj.livejournal.com]

I think they're full of boatloads of shit.

[pt_tangles]

Yeah, turns out that copyright doesn't extend to something that someone created from a pattern you made. Even if you give it away for free, the pattern is all the copyright covers. It's a big controversy online. Some people see it as a matter of "respecting the designer's hard work", and some folks even sell cottage licenses to try and make money off of other people's work.

I'm just glad that common sense prevails in this case.