Question about patterns...

[Ima LeShalosh]

I was noticing that soooo many knitting patterns on Etsy say that you can't make and then sell the finished product. How is it that someone has the right to tell you you can't sell something you made?

[Codi]

I think it is because it is their original pattern that they designed.

[Maggie]

To add to what Codi said, you're just buying the right to make it for personal use, not the right to profit from their design.

[Wonder Woman]

And there is a whole huge debate over whether or not that stipulation is enforceable :shifty I think on Etsy people say it a lot because really, who wants to design only for others to sell on Etsy? I think selling it offline is legally and morally ok :shrug you could always convo and ask, I've never turned down a request like that nor have I been turned down.

Off topic...I was thinking of/praying for you yesterday :heart glad to see you're still here on GCM!

[Ima LeShalosh]

Yeah I was kind of wondering if it was enforceable too. I agree about selling it offline or even maybe your own online shop that is not tied to Etsy.

thank you Reb...I think of you often...whenever I hear "Maine" It reminds me of you. Then as I was sitting in my knitting class, I thought of you because the last post I read from you was when you were at a public knitting circle

[musicmama]

I was noticing that soooo many knitting patterns on Etsy say that you can't make and then sell the finished product. How is it that someone has the right to tell you you can't sell something you made?

They don't :shifty

There are people who "allow" you to sell if you pay x amount of money. Cottage license?

[Marielle]

They don't. Agreed.

People get in a huff and you can quickly be blacklisted by an angry net mob of followers but legally a copyright extends to not copying and selling a copy of pattern not the finished object.

Cottage licenses are not legally necessary but extend more into a franchising of the brand vs the actual pattern.

Eta : you can resell a pattern as long as you include any tracings.

[KatieMae]

Easy solution: Alter the pattern - then it was only inspiration. We're talking about the physical pattern copyright, which you agree to not re-sell, but also the intellectual property of the design, which can be taken into your brain, meshed with what you already know or have seen on other patterns, and used to create a new pattern which is now YOUR intellectural property.

[UltraMother]

It really depends on what the pattern specifies in the copyright. But, be careful and be able to defend yourself. It only takes one person to say "Hey, I saw that mouse toy at some other site. She's copying illegally!" and spread that around, whether it's true or not.

[Marielle]

Oh and I forgot to share a link with a wealth of info

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/trademarks.shtml