copyright for crafters
question 4: Don’t you have to mark the pattern with a © to have copyright?
No. Copyright arises automatically. There’s no need to mark anything as being copyrighted. A copyright owner doesn’t lose his or her rights just because there’s no “© John Doe, 2000″. There was a time when subsistence of copyright depended on marking the work with a copyright notice, but no longer.
What this means is that you should assume that all your patterns are protected by copyright unless the copyright has expired. Usually this is at least 50 years after the death of the author, but you should check with a lawyer in your country to make sure.
Doesn’t seem fair? Well, remember that this includes any patterns that are your own original creation. If you write an original pattern, then you have copyright, too.
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