designing and copyrighting patterns

[merkity]

not sure where this goes, but i was wondering how the copyrighting process works for patterns and such. if anyone has any info or sites they could point me towards - that would be great.

 

thank you.

[RoseRed]

Have you tried the Cville search function. We've had this convo bunches of times.

[Amy]

To write up and distribute a pattern, it must be your own original creation. You should not try to purposely copy an existing pattern. You can use existing patterns as a source of inspiration, put them away, then sit down with blank paper, a pencil, yarn, and a crochet hook, and make up something all your own, as long as you're not trying to duplicate the exact look and feel of the original. If you're trying to create a duplicate that is that close: just use the ORIGINAL pattern to make your item!

 

Some things are so basic (such as a rectangular scarf, a beanie hat, a granny square), that many pattern instructions will end up looking very, very similar. What is copyright-protected in this case would be your individual written instructions and photos. This means somebody couldn't COPY the instructions as written in your pattern, put them into their own pattern, and distribute it). It's possible that their original written instructions would look very similar to yours, but as long as they didn't copy you, there is no infringement.

 

As far as copyrighting a pattern, you have copyright protection as soon as you publish your pattern. To help make people aware the pattern is copyrighted, you can include the copyright symbol and year on it:

 

© 2010.

 

However, current US law says that the copyright symbol is not required.

 

I am not an attorney; I am not offering legal advice. If you have legal questions regarding a specific pattern you want to publish, please seek the advice of an attorney that specializes in intellectual property. For more detailed information on copyright, you can visit the US Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov.

[merkity]

thank you! - i figured this was somewhere on here, but i tried to search and got over 500 threads to search though. I will have to look at the web site - i am curious how that part all works and how you know if your item hasn't already been copyrighted... especially with so many patterns already out there....

[Amy]

thank you! - i figured this was somewhere on here, but i tried to search and got over 500 threads to search though. I will have to look at the web site - i am curious how that part all works and how you know if your item hasn't already been copyrighted... especially with so many patterns already out there....

 

If you come up with something original all by yourself, you can still publish and copyright your pattern. It's okay if it looks similar to something someone else has already created---your version, with your wording, your photos, your layout is copyrighted to you. The other person's remains copyrighted to them. No infringement has occurred.

 

That's why there can be so many different patterns for basic beanies or basic granny square afghans or a basic rectangular scarf or a basic raglan sleeve sweater.

 

It's always a good idea to keep all of your handwritten or computer-generated project notes in a permanent file. That way, if anybody ever contacts you in the future with a belief you've infringed upon their work, you'll have documentation on hand that you did all your own original work.

 

As you write a pattern, you should keep backup copies of each revision. You may edit a pattern a number of times before you have it ready for distribution. Unless and edit is very minor, you would probably want to keep copies of each saved off version. Like juliette.cape.1a, juliette.cape.1b (a minor revision), juliette.cape.2, juliette,cape.3 (major revisions), and juliette.cape.final. Then you'll have proof of your steps along the way toward creating the final pattern.