Copyright Issue: Can items made from crochet patterns be sold? If you sell crocheted items, you may have run across patterns or publications that contain a clause similar to Items made from this pattern cannot be sold. In MOST cases (not ALL, just MOST), this is not actually true, at least if you live in the United States. Back in August, the US Copyright Office released a public draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition. The document will remain in draft form pending final review and implementation, and will take effect around December 15, 2014. Heres a link to the huge document if you want to download and read it for yourself: copyright.gov/comp3/docs/compendium-full.pdf This document offers some pretty good clarification about whether items made from crochet patterns can legally be sold. Here is what it says: -----BEGIN QUOTED SECTION----- 920.1 Patterns for Making Articles The drawings and text in a pattern book may be copyrightable, if they are sufficiently original. This may include textual instructions, technical diagrams that demonstrate cutting, stitching, weaving, or other techniques required by the pattern, as well as illustrations of the completed items. A registration for a pattern book generally does not extend to individual pattern pieces that may be used to create a useful article, such as shapes that may be traced and used to make a sleeve for a dress, because they have an intrinsic utilitarian function. Nor does the registration extend to any useful article that may be created with the pattern, such as an item of clothing. For a general discussion of useful articles, see Section 924. 924.3(A) Clothing Designs Clothing such as shirts, dresses, pants, coats, shoes, and outerwear are not eligible for copyright protection because they are considered useful articles. This is because clothing provides utilitarian functions, such as warmth, protection, and modesty. As a result, the U.S. Copyright Office will not register a claim in clothing or clothing designs. See Registrability of Costume Designs, 56 Fed. Reg. 56,530, 56,531 (Nov. 5, 1991) -----END QUOTED SECTION----- My Notes: Read the full Section 924 for additional information about useful articles, for which it is perfectly legal to sell your finished items. Lets talk a bit about exceptions to this policy. There are some things you might not be able to sell: 1. Items that are not classified as useful articles. Example: A highly stylized stuffed animal, that is very unique in style and interpretation, may be classified as a 3-d sculpture, as in artwork, and you therefore could only sell the finished item with permission of the copyright holder. 2. Items that feature a popular character, logo, sports team name/mascot/phrase, etc. For the pattern to be distributed legally,, the publisher had to make licensing arrangements with the owner of the copyrighted/trademarked thing. That license applies only to distribution of the pattern, not to anything made from the pattern. To legally sell what youve made from the pattern, you have to make your own licensing arrangements with the trademark/copyright owner of the thing. 3. Useful articles that contain an element of eligible artwork: a graphical image of some kind that is detailed and original enough to be granted protection. For example, a basic block shape of a house on the front of a sweater is probably not going to be protected. On the other hand, a detailed depiction of a Victorian house, with lots of trim, decorations, and color changes, on a sweater made out of laceweight yarn (heaven forbid!) would like have enough details in it (thanks to the insane number of stitches required) that it would have protection, and youd need permission to sell the finished item. Although, you could use the pattern, make the sweater all in one color without using the house artwork, and you could sell that item without permission, because the sweater without the artwork is just a useful article. This really deserves a blog post, so one will be forthcoming. But I wanted to get this out there while Im thinking about it right now.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 18:57:11 +0000