copyright for crafters
question 15: I searched the copyright database online and didn’t find a record of a “vintage” pattern I have in my collection. That means it’s not protected by copyright and I can share it on the Internet, right?
Wrong.
You’re probably thinking of the online copyright registration database that is maintained by the Library of Congress. This database records certain information regarding copyright registrations in the United States.
However, the mere fact that you didn’t find a certain work listed in that database doesn’t mean anything, except that you didn’t find it in the database. If you use the database as your only resource, you cannot be certain that you will obtain an accurate picture of a work’s U.S. copyright status. Furthermore, the data might have been entered incorrectly in the database, preventing you from finding it, or you might be looking under the wrong author’s name or title. Not only that, but individual works that were published as part of a compilation (for example, a single pattern in a book or magazine of patterns) may not be listed separately. For other words of warning about U.S. Copyright Office searches, read this.
In any event, remember that the Library of Congress database only includes records from the United States. It does not contain any information about copyright in other countries, and the rules for granting copyright protection vary from country to country. Therefore, even if you’re certain that a pattern is no longer protected by copyright in the United States, you could still be infringing copyright in other countries by making a copy of the pattern available on the Internet.
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