old Workbasket magazines

[NanaM3]

I have a handful of old Workbasket magazines that have some wonderful crichet projects in them. Am I permitted to share these patterns here? For instance, the issue I have in my hand right now is August, 1947.

 

The magazine has been out of print for quite a while unfortunately and I would love to see other patterns from them

[RoseRed]

There's a link around here somewhere about what dates are in the public venue (I think it's called) It would be great if you could!

[darski]

I remember going over those magazines in amazement when I was just very little. I could not believe that real people could make such wonderful things. I think that was why I kept bugging my grandma and my aunt to teach me to crochet.

 

I would love to be able to see them too. It's been 60 years by this point. yeah, I know wishful thinking does not copyright law make...

[Shell]

i think the term you were after Rose is Public Domain

[ErinLindsey]

I'm pretty sure that if a publication is older than 1923, it would probably be in the public domain now. I think 1947 is still too new to have hit the public domain.

 

I'd have to dig around to find a link that confirms that tho.

[RoseRed]

Thanks Shell. I was close.

[darski]

Thanks Shell. I was close.

 

I was thinking that same thing and I love your come back

 

My younger son used to say that "close" only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear warfare.

[papersmiles]

Don't ya just LUV those Workbaskets. For years I never saw more than one or two of those magazines available at flea markets and such. Then, just recently I found two caches of old Workbaskets....one at a Salvation Army outlet and another at a local antique store. All together there were over 200 booklets. This will be my "winter reading" (...chuckling...). Beside patterns there are recipes, gardening tips, "making cents" (about selling crafts) and letters/comments from readers. Pretty cool mags.

[Yaviiniia Loenla Enath]

There's a whole site of patterns from 60s and 70s magazines and leaflets...if I could remember what it was called. And come to think of it, I've seen 40s patterns too. I think you might be in the clear, but I'd research it a little.

[darski]

There's a whole site of patterns from 60s and 70s magazines and leaflets...if I could remember what it was called. And come to think of it, I've seen 40s patterns too. I think you might be in the clear, but I'd research it a little.

 

I am guessing you mean Celt's site - I love it and I go there all the time to over doily patterns.

 

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/

[lilmari]

when i was real little my 2nd grade teacher had a garage sale...

she had boxes full of workbasket books. that's where i learned to crochet, from bugging my mom to help me make it like the picture!

sadly i only bought 3 books and over time i either lost them or gave them away. but if it were possible to share those patterns online i would gladly take advantage

oh ya, martha c had a bunch of crochet links i would get lost in during my last year of high school, i wonder if this link still works...

http://home.inreach.com/marthac/links.html

[Amy]

Here is the official scoop on copyrights and public domain. If something was published in the US before 1923, it is now in the public domain. If it was published between 1923 and 1963, the original copyright was valid for 28 years and could be renewed for another 67 years, for a total of 95 years.

 

If the Workbasket copyrights were renewed, they are still covered by copyright protection. If they were not renewed, they are now in the public domain.

 

However, I'm not sure how you would go about finding out if the copyright was renewed. Without proof from some "official" entity of some sort that the copyright was not renewed, the patterns cannot be posted here.

[Yaviiniia Loenla Enath]

e-mail project gutenberg (gutenberg.org) and see if they can find out? They have some unrenewed sci-fi from the 50s. I don't think somebody would renew the copyright on a magazine, anyway.

[gholloway]

My aunt had alot of those and I was wanting them since I am the only one in the family that crochets but before I could ask her daughter, my aunt's house burned. So many things lost because nothing was saved. My aunt has passed away and no one lived in the house. I use to love to look at those magazines. She was always making something out of them.

[ErinLindsey]

I went to the US Copyright office's website and did a search for Workbasket magazine.

 

I found listings for the copyrights of the magazines, but there was nothing earlier than 1978 in the listings and nothing later than 1996.

 

http://www.loc.gov/cgi-bin/formprocessor/copyright/locis.pl (not sure this link will take you to what I found, you may have to do your own search for the magazines)

 

I dont know if that means that anything prior to 1978 is public domain or not. I think we need a nice knowledgable copyright attorney who could explain that.

 

I did find a page that explains how to do a search of the Copyright Office's records, http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.html#general

[NanaM3]

I've spent hours at the Copyright office site to make sure and Googling Roma Jean Rice, all the past editors, etc .... the first copyright was in 1979. There's no outstanding/active/renewed copyright I can find in any issue prior. The magazine ceased publication in May '96 and the company has apparently been swallowed up by a Japanese publishing firm.

 

The ISSN after 1979 is 0162-9123 ... the issues prior to that did say "Copyright 1951" for instance, but prior to 1979 there's no current copyright (or ISSN #) on record for The Workbasket so if I read the law correctly any issue 28 or more years prior to 1979 is now public domain.

 

If any of you have a lawyer spouse would you mind running my observation past him/her?

 

I have one issue that old ... volume 16 issue 5 from Feb. 1951 and I'm ready to share here the crochet patterns in it.

 

Shall I?!!! I mean, we have all searched to do the right thing and it sure seems like we've done our very best.

[Amy]

I've spent hours at the Copyright office site to make sure and Googling Roma Jean Rice, all the past editors, etc .... the first copyright was in 1979. There's no outstanding/active/renewed copyright I can find in any issue prior. The magazine ceased publication in May '96 and the company has apparently been swallowed up by a Japanese publishing firm.

 

The ISSN after 1979 is 0162-9123 ... the issues prior to that did say "Copyright 1951" for instance, but prior to 1979 there's no current copyright (or ISSN #) on record for The Workbasket so if I read the law correctly any issue 28 or more years prior to 1979 is now public domain.

 

If any of you have a lawyer spouse would you mind running my observation past him/her?

 

I have one issue that old ... volume 16 issue 5 from Feb. 1951 and I'm ready to share here the crochet patterns in it.

 

Shall I?!!! I mean, we have all searched to do the right thing and it sure seems like we've done our very best.

 

NO! Please do NOT post these patterns yet. Not until I can be 100%+ assured that they are in the public domain. I am knee-deep in auction stuff right now, and do not have the time necessary to research this issue at the present time.

 

Remember, if it turns out you all are wrong in your interpretation, Donna and I will be the ones paying huge, huge fines if a legitimate copyright owner turns up and sues us for copyright infringement. I'm not willing to risk Crochetville.

 

And I'm really thinking that IF these patterns were truly in the public domain, with as many people as are interested in them, we'd be seeing compilations of them all over the place.

[NanaM3]

I'm really glad I got the word not to share the patterns yet!

 

I'm happy to wait for someone to get the absolute word...the whole business of copyright law is SO confusing. I even tried to contact the old editors to see if they knew anything (no luck).

 

So I'll wait until I get the go-ahead (or no-go)

[darski]

I think that all 11,000 + members should contribute $1.oo a year so that we can find some poor schmo and send her to law school to become an Intellectual rights attorney just for the Ville.

 

of course we would have to do this every year for 1000 years or so as the rules change with the current wind conditions

[Amy]

I think that all 11,000 + members should contribute $1.oo a year so that we can find some poor schmo and send her to law school to become an Intellectual rights attorney just for the Ville.

 

of course we would have to do this every year for 1000 years or so as the rules change with the current wind conditions

 

Isn't that the truth? And with the advent of the internet, there's all sorts of new precedent trying to be established in the court systems relating to copyright.

 

Actually, Crochetville does have an attorney of record, who specializes in intellectual property (as do many of the attorneys in this firm). However, his services are pretty expensive. But if somebody wants to volunteer to pay his rates to research the answer to this question, we'll be happy to let you do it!

[Krystal16]

Isn't that the truth? And with the advent of the internet, there's all sorts of new precedent trying to be established in the court systems relating to copyright.

 

Actually, Crochetville does have an attorney of record, who specializes in intellectual property (as do many of the attorneys in this firm). However, his services are pretty expensive. But if somebody wants to volunteer to pay his rates to research the answer to this question, we'll be happy to let you do it!

 

Amy, I'll volunteer to pay for this as soon as I'm done paying the mortgage on the Golden Gate...

 

I personally like Darski's idea, but then again, those winds do change quite often.

 

I think the law of averages are probably against the fact that the work is now public domain. Seriously, if there was ANYONE out there who was certain they were public domain, you know for sure they'd be up on the web somewhere. Even if someone was reasonably certain that they were public domain, someone would at least risk it. The Internet isn't known for its scrupulous people... and even none of the lowlifes have tried it.

[Yaviiniia Loenla Enath]

I'd never heard of Workbasket before I read this thread. Maybe no-ones gotten to them yet.

[shadow]

I have a bunch of workbasket magazines if anyone is interested.

[wayinpa]

I have a bunch of workbasket magazines if anyone is interested.

i p m ed you!!

[shadow]

The workbaskets are gone!