Saturday, July 22, 2006

Copyright Scofflaws





they have.

My faithful readers know that the United States Copyright Office disagrees:








jillian said...

So sad, so so sad. And yet, I continue to learn there are huge swaths of the population that are ignorant, immature and just plain rude. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

Why can't we all live happley ever after :)

Sherry W said...

Won't yahoogroups take them down?

Kathy Merrick said...

Oy. This teapot tempest just never goes away, does it?
You and I both know people who have based entire careers on stealing others' work.
But, I really think persuing every small violation is a waste of time.
Partly because there's very little new in knitworld and partly because you're talking about teeny pieces of a very small pie.
It's been my experience that cheaters don't reform- they just find new places to cheat from.
Not to mention it just gets so old after a while.

turtlegirl76 said...

I'm a member of another yahoo group that knits dishcloths, and the database of patterns there still maintain the copyright and link to the original pattern, as well as the pattern. As far as I know, the majority of pattern designers that the group uses (I'm under the impression all of them are aware) of the group and how it works (it's a KAL that sends a few lines of the pattern daily until it's done) but are they technically correct in the way it runs? Once the KAL is done, should the pattern go away and be replaced by just the link to the original pattern?

Cathy said...

It's been interesting - in that spectator sport kind of way.

Christina said...

I saw this on Girl from Auntie last night, and visited the Yahoo group. Wasn't it was more difficult to strip the names and copyright info than to link to the pattern in its' entire form?

Bridget said...

The "experts" on copyright drive me nuts, and instead of them taking the time to learn the basics, they just go to the next place to do the same thing. Aaargh!!

On another note entirely - "warshcloths" and "coinkydink" - you made my day!

Ted said...

People need patterns to knit dishcloths!? You mean those squares of knitted fabric that people use to scrub dishes when they're washing them?

Oh, you're making this all up. I don't believe it. Surely people really don't need patterns to knit dishcloths.

Do they?

Kathy Merrick said...

Oh, la, Ted, what do you think keeps all those thousands of new yarn stores run by folks who learned to knit last Friday in business, now that the fluffy scarf craze is over?
I often crochet scarves out of scraps.
Because I like the endless combinations of color.
They are rectangles, worked lengthwise until I think they're wide enough.
Or I run out of scraps that look good together.
Did I mention they're rectangles?
In half-double crochet.
Hundreds are the times I've been asked where to get the pattern.

Deborah C. said...

The copyright argument will never go away because some people will always feel that they are "entitled" to things, and that if a pattern is available on the Web, they can do what they want with it. As a side question, I took a Solveig Hisdal pattern from "Poetry in Stitches" that was too small for me, and the "Sonnet" pattern from Knitty's archives; if you look they are almost identical, with the "Sonnet" pattern omitting much of the shaping. I have done a redux and combined both patterns, taking elements I liked from each. Now, Lawyer Carol, who do I attribute the pattern to? Is it now "my" creation?


Elizabeth said...

My personal favorite from that Yahoo list was the message in which someone wrote, "I sudjest...". That was a pretty interesting spelling error, if you ask me.

The attitude I found most strange was the oft-repeated line that if we didn't want to use the free patterns, we should just not look, or go somewhere else.

I was quite impressed with the patience and restraint shown by a few of the knit_design members who tried to enlighten that group.

Dave Daniels said...

OMG OMG OMG Don't even get me started on this one! There is a particular male knitter who has taken images from my site, and even copy/pasted info from my online store to start his own online store. I've written to him on numerous occassions to tell him he is in violation of copyright laws. He tells me I can't copyright common words. (He has a poor grasp of the English language.) I pointed out that he even used my own typos! We had so many back and forths that I was forced to report him to his ISP. He's removed the info he STOLE from me, as well as MY photos that he kept posting in his blog.
(If you ever need to know how to stop people from linking to images on your site, I have a GREAT trick! Give me a shout.)
It bugs me how people, as stated, feel entitled to things that are not their own. It irritates me, as you can tell.

pippi said...

this is so crazy making!

but your take on it made me laugh.

brewerburns said...

Thank you for posting this. It never hurts to have a reminder of the essence of copyright law out there.