copyright for crafters
question 13: Oh, yeah? I’ve seen an article from Annie’s Pattern Club that says what I’m doing is all right. Got an answer for that?
As a matter of fact, yes. This was an article written by a woman named Kris Carter, who is described as a needlework instructor. Nowhere is it suggested she has any legal expertise, or any copyright expertise.
Read the article carefully. What the author is actually saying is yes, copying a pattern for your friends is copyright infringement, but then she suggests that the chances that you’re going to get caught are almost zero, and just cautions you to keep your activities “legal"… whatever that means. She never explains it. Is she telling you to break the law, and just make sure you don’t get caught?
This article was published in June/July 1981, long before public use of the Internet–and long before people discovered they could exchange illegal copies of patterns on the Internet. You know what? It may be easier to send your friends illegal copies of patterns now, but it’s also easier for copyright owners to track you. The chances today that you will be discovered are much, much greater.
If you’re caught, you could be sued, and the cost of a lawsuit in terms of lawyer’s fees and damages is way more than the $15,000 claimed in that twenty-year-old article. You could lose your Internet or e-mail access. Once you’ve been pegged as an infringer, copyright owners might start monitoring every thing you ever post to any discussion group or bulletin board. Do you want to take that risk?
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