another copyright question

[crochetfun]

We all know that the Solutia patterns will no longer be available online.
Many of us have either printed or disk copies of those.
It is only a matter of time someone is going to be looking for one of those patterns.
My question is would it be wrong to share them? (I suspect it would, but I am not 100%)

[RachelG]

Good question. I was wondering that myself!

[crochetfun]

Good question. I was wondering that myself!

Thanks, Rachel, now I don't feel so dumb:)

[crochet smartcat]

I would say, and this is just my opinion, but since they were offered free anyways, there is nothing wrong with sharing them. As long as you do not make a profit from sharing the pattern, I personally don't see anything wrong with it, because you are not depriving anyone of additional profit in sharing them. I don't know how legal this is, but my thoughts are if you buy something than someone else should have to buy it too. If you get it for free and another person, had they known, could have gotten it for free, what is the harm in sharing.

[crochetfun]

I would say, and this is just my opinion, but since they were offered free anyways, there is nothing wrong with sharing them. As long as you do not make a profit from sharing the pattern, I personally don't see anything wrong with it, because you are not depriving anyone of additional profit in sharing them. I don't know how legal this is, but my thoughts are if you buy something than someone else should have to buy it too. If you get it for free and another person, had they known, could have gotten it for free, what is the harm in sharing.

That would be my thinking, but...
if this was true, then we could share those free leaflets they give at Michaels, Walmart, etc. but my understanding is that we can't do that online.

[crochet smartcat]

That would be my thinking, but...
if this was true, then we could share those free leaflets they give at Michaels, Walmart, etc. but my understanding is that we can't do that online.

I'm not positive, but if you are saying you can not post the free leaflets to a website than I would agree with that. However if you want to make a copy and share with a friend, I wouldn't see a problem with that, IMO. I am not talking legalities, just if you want to share the patterns between friends and the pattern was free, I don't think that would be a problem. I would hope that no one here would post other people's (company's) patterns on their website without reprinting permission, but to email a pattern to a friend?? I would think is okay, especially if it was a scan.

Maybe the reason you can't share the free leaflets online is because you would retype the pattern? and then if there were errors in your typing it could cause the original pattern issuer problems? I'm just guessing.

I don't know the legalities and am not pretending that I do. If someone knows whether it is legal to share (make copies of) free patterns, I would love to know for sure.

[mimi_mia]

Many of the free patterns from Michaels or Walmart are available online from the companies that supply the patterns......but I say why not pass the pattern on to someone else........often I take a pattern only because it's free knowing full well that I'll never make the item :hook It would be better off with someone who can use it!

[CrochetCrazie]

Funny, this is one of the area's we'll be studying in one of my classes. The semester just started this week so we haven't delved too deeply into it but from what we've gotten into so far, copying information without giving proper credit & without permission is plagiarism. Using, for personal gain, any written or recorded information that is not your own is a violation of copyright laws-it doesn't matter it the little (C) is after it or not, or if there's an official copyright, or even if it's mentioned-it's still a violation.

I'll post more if there's anything relevant when we get further into it.

Angie

[Angelhair]

You know, I think its worth asking them. Every company is different. Suprisingly, Coats and Clark lets you use their free leaflets on your site. This is quoted from their Legal page:

"Patterns and all copy currently available in our Free Leaflets or on our Internet site can be used with proper credit to Coats & Clark (see sample credits below). Depending on the format, we prefer that the pattern be scanned or photocopied directly from the source, as reentering content can lead to errors and consumer dissatisfaction."

[natalie058]

Sharing patterns isn't really for personal gain, though... it's not as if she's claiming that it is her own pattern, she'd just be passing them on since they're "out of print."

That being said, I still have no clue whether it'd be okay or not. :think

[nataleeza]

I really don't know a lot about it either...

But since the site wouldn't be available anymore - as the have gone out of business - I think it would be okay to share as you couldn't reduce the amount of traffic to their site.

I know that you cannot copy a work or part of a work if it will reduce the commercial value of it... but if the producers are no longer available would it even have any commerical value?

[crochetfun]

I really don't know a lot about it either...

But since the site wouldn't be available anymore - as the have gone out of business - I think it would be okay to share as you couldn't reduce the amount of traffic to their site.

I know that you cannot copy a work or part of a work if it will reduce the commercial value of it... but if the producers are no longer available would it even have any commerical value?
What about the designers of those patterns? Would we not be reducing their chances for potential gain?

[crochetqueen]

The answer is NO NO NO, :D It does not matter if something is "free" or not. If you are not the creator, it has an automatic copyright. And you will have to get the ok from the original creator of that pattern. Solutia may not own the original copyright for the patterns, I do not know what their agreement was or is with the original creators of their free patterns. They may very well do what Coats and Clark did recently, release their copyright for all previous patterns from 1970 back (please check their website for correct dates). So if you had a Coats and Clark pattern the original book in your possession, then you could legally scan it and pass it to your friend however if you came across one that say I had scanned and put on my own website, you could not just select, copy , and paste and then send it to your friend. Hope I haven't confused you :(