Should this bother me?

[Scenna]

I have seen a couple of sellers on ebay who have the same free patterns posted by celts vintage Crochet and are selling them for thier own profit claiming the copyright is in their using thier own images( same images as elsewhere, not thier own handiwork) and fonts .

for some reason this bothers me , because it leads me to think of pirating , but since copywrite has expired that does not fit. so I guess the question is should they be selling public domain patterns??

 

 

ok done ranting now,

Scenna

[rippleaddiction]

not sure if they can legally, but I don't blame you for being upset by it. Why should someone benefit from someone else's work??? Totally agree with you!

[samistrange]

How do you know the copyright has expired?

[Aelita]

I've seen some people selling patterns that are free on the internet like one site called freepatterns.com(they are selling the patterns from off that site) and they also are selling patterns that are coming out of the Crochet Today! magazine most of those patterns I have b/c I have the Crochet Today! magazines they are getting them from.

[Amy]

If a pattern has truly become part of the public domain, then yes, people can package it with their own graphics and other text to create their own new copyrightable version. Then they can sell that.

 

In this case, since the pattern itself is in the public domain, what they have copyrighted is the "packaging" they've together around the pattern.

 

Of course, anybody doing something like this would need to be sure they are using graphics to which they either own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder to use, and the same thing with any new text they are using.

 

For example, think about some of the classic books, like everything by Jane Austen. Many different publishing companies print, publish, and sell their own editions of her books. That's the same thing some people are now doing with old vintage crochet patterns that have become public domain because they are so old.

 

Now, all the above is generally speaking. I don't know whether the specific patterns you're speaking of are truly in the public domain.

[Amy]

I've seen some people selling patterns that are free on the internet like one site called freepatterns.com(they are selling the patterns from off that site) and they also are selling patterns that are coming out of the Crochet Today! magazine most of those patterns I have b/c I have the Crochet Today! magazines they are getting them from.

 

This could be copyright infringement. Then again, some people might have permission from the copyright holders to be doing whatever it is they're doing. That's why we should never make specific accusations of wrongdoing against a specific person and identify them: we don't know what private arrangements they may have made. (Thank you for not naming specific sites where you think this is occurring.)

 

If you are concerned that the copyright of a particular website or magazine is being infringed upon, the best course of action is to notify that website or magazine directly about the issue. Give them the URLs in question, and let them investigate themselves. If true infringement is occurring, in many instances, the copyright holder is the only one with the power to make the infringement stop.

[ErinLindsey]

I have seen a couple of sellers on ebay who have the same free patterns posted by celts vintage Crochet and are selling them for thier own profit claiming the copyright is in their using thier own images( same images as elsewhere, not thier own handiwork) and fonts .

for some reason this bothers me , because it leads me to think of pirating , but since copywrite has expired that does not fit. so I guess the question is should they be selling public domain patterns??

 

 

ok done ranting now,

Scenna

 

I thought Celt had researched and had legally obtained the copyrights to the patterns on her website. Therefore, these people would be violating her copyrights to those patterns. (I'm not sure if she does have the copyrights, but I thought I'd seen somewhere that she actually owns those patterns and that they're not public domain)

 

If the eBayers were selling original copies of the magazines and books those patterns were in, they'd be ok to sell them, because they're not scanned copies, they'd be originals.

[boksie]

I wouldn't get worked up over it if I were you. If you want to, do a little research and then if there is a violation do something about it. Blowing off steam here doesn't solve a thing. I don't mean to sound harsh or critical it's just that I've seen almost-witch hunts started over this sort of thing. Oh yeah, and we should all be good "hookers" and NOT patronize sellers of such items.

[Feederofthepack]

I guess if I see a pattern I like on e-bay I should first do a search for a free version, or see if it belonged to a designer. Wish there was a way of warning people they could get it for free somewhere else.

[Scenna]

Thanks Amy for putting it in perspective, But like Feeder of the pack said wish there was some way to let people know they can get the patterns for free on official sites, I guess by posting this thread I may have done that lol.

 

Happy stitches everyone,

Scenna

[eurolyons]

not sure if they can legally, but I don't blame you for being upset by it. Why should someone benefit from someone else's work??? Totally agree with you!

 

If this mindset was the way of the world, we wouldn't have remakes of movies, we wouldn't have adaptations of other works, we wouldn't have derivatives of works...new things would not be created because all of us would be in violation of copyright just by being inspired by other people's work. Like Amy said, when things are from public domain, that means they can do what they want with it, and the copyright would be the "packaging..." Every.single.time I read the above sentiment it is so lopsided to me because it forgets there is such a thing as "Fair Use..."

 

Again though Amy makes a very valid point about the fact that we don't know what arrangements have been made between the seller and designer. I believe we shouldn't always assume that someone's out to make an illegal profit from others' work all the time.

[cupcake]

If you are concerned the best thing to do is send an email to Celts with a link to the site selling. As it is only the copyright holder who can take action or give permission, then that is the simplest fairest thing to do all round.