The BBC has obtained an injunction against a UK knitter for infringement of copyright:
Was she trying to sell her project or just knitting for her own use?:??
I know the music industry is bad about copyright infringement but I never thought about it with knitting. But then I have never tried to sell anything I have made.
A:heart:
It looks like she was copying patterns of items (a bear) that she sees on a tv show. That’s not a good thing, you can’t just copy something from TV and sell it saying it’s your own design.
Heather
I did not understand the article the same way…
She was not copying patterns. She was making knitted items (her own patterns) based on licensed characters. Like making your own pattern for a Mickey Mouse doll and selling it.
candice
Blog of the knitter in question
She was NOT selling. She created patterns to look like some of the “monsters” on Dr Who, and was sharing them for free via the Creative Commons licenses.
This is pretty bothersome to me, mostly because I really like Harry Potter inspired knit patterns offered for free on the net, and those Dr Who scarfs that many have worked so hard to re-create. I’ll be interested to see what the outcome is.
Oh…I missed this at the bottom of the article:
A BBC spokesman said the broadcaster does not like going after fans but had to protect Adipose and Ood because knitted versions were showing up for sale on eBay. (c) UPI
But, unless Mazzmatazz was the ebay seller, I think they’re going after the wrong person. She created the patterns, the fact that others made the mistake of selling works created with her free pattern is not her fault.
I don’t know much about the Harry Potter knit patterns, but from what I understand knitting a Griffindor scarf is not the same as knitting a licensed character.
Edited to add: since she was distributing the patterns (even though not selling them), it still constitutes a violation
Hmmm, I still think the issue is that the creator of the pattern was easy to track down, but the wrong target. A quick poke around Ravelry will show a lot of fan-created patterns, many that are “dolls” or likenesses of characters. I don’t know that they really want to limit the fans by saying that they cannot share freely, for personal use, creative patterns that celebrate a show. The sticky point is when money trades hands.
I had a pattern saved on my favourites of a Dr Who robot thing sorry the name escapes me and that page has now been closed. As far as I am aware a person who liked knitting and Dr Who made up her own patterns for her own use and decided to share it on her web page/blog.
I can’t personally see anything wrong with that she did not sell (to the best of my knowledge) or steal the pattern. she was being creative and sharing both characteristics I would welcome in my own children.
I have never personally seen commercially available patterns for Dr Who characters, so I think they would have been better off putting her on commission and publish the patterns so everybody could buy it.
I think the issue is that they own the copyright on the characters, just as Disney owns Mickey Mouse etal.
I like Dr. Who but could never come up with the patterns for Adipose and the Ood. (I would like to have a couple of the Adipose to sit next to my Tribble!) And I think that the BBC just needs to rethink what they are doing. They are attacking real fans of the show (and there are at least 2 spinoffs too) for making a pattern of some of their characters. Come on! Let’s bite the hand that feeds you!
Here is what is going on now though, looks good and the person who did that patterns is real happy over it- http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/who-knits/195664/1-25
While I think the whole thing is a bit silly, she was legally in the wrong. She in no way owns the rights to those characters, while BBC does in fact own the rights to them. Whether she was selling them, the patterns, or distributing the patterns for free, she was violating their legal ownership.
Creative commons simply doesn’t apply when you are violating someone else’s licensed product.
Wow, that certainly seems petty. I mean don’t get me wrong, I understand copyrights and their purpose, but, this just seems ridiculous. She never claimed she created the characters, and, I don’t see it as being a threat to Dr. Who.
It just kills me when big companies go after the “little” people…Like the RIAA going after kids downloading music while they totally ignored the complaint I submitted when I worked at a cd store…The company I worked for was burning cd’s and SELLING them to people as if they were original copies! My old manager was the one doing it and all the money went right into the companies pocket! Oh, the RIAA listened to me, but, they never did a thing about it, it just got swept under the carpet.
Maybe if this woman was making a business of doing this, that would be one thing, but, to go after a fan who did this for enjoyment is a completely different thing.
Copyright is a huge issue. According to law, you are not allowed to sell anything that you’ve made based on someone else’s pattern. It’s difficult to enforce, and usually isn’t, but it is the law. I’m not a designer or a knitting book author, so I think it’s much ado about nothing, but maybe I’d think differently if I was.
:shrug:
I think it’s illegal to sell a Mickey Mouse that hasn’t been okayed by the Disney Corp.
A Dalek?
I knitted a tote bag with Hello Kitty on it for my niece, which I modified from an existing pattern. I gave it to my niece for her birthday last year. I have it posted on my Ravelry page, and I’ve been asked by other people for the pattern. I’m very hesitant to post one for this very reason. Hello Kitty isn’t mine and I don’t want to be held responsible by Sanrio for what someone else does with a pattern I post.
I think it is all…bull@#$%, I mean…if you are a fan of something…why can’t you come up with stuff? If she wasn’t selling it…quite frankly I think she has every right (lord know I knit tonnes of Harry Potter stuff…http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Crycket/thomas)
I don’t know…I don’t like the idea that someone can go after a fan. Not to say I am right…just to say I don’t like it…
I agree, but she ran into trouble by distributing the stuff/patterns.
See, the way around it is to follow what the one that published Charmed KNits did… called them “inspired by”
also, with the amount of Dr. Who merchandise now becoming available, the BBC probably plans on making and marketing toys and such of those creatures (I have the 9th doctor action figure courtesy of my stepson)
:shrug: It does seem a bit silly to me too. But I think that once they’re aware of a situation like this, they pretty much have to take action. If they let some things go, it can get really hard to draw the line…
If all they asked for is an injunction so that she stops distributing the patterns, it’s not too bad, really. I just hope they won’t decide to sue her and ask for damage… :shrug: