Hello,

This is a great article to use as a reference for copyright laws when it comes to cross stitch patterns :)

http://www.yarntree.com/066copyr.htm

~Kristi @ ECS

Thank you Leanne I was thinking the same but I am also curious since I already made the the one copy allotted to the pattern and if I gift it or give it away can they also make a copy to mark up. This is going to get confusing because I have a couple of co workers who I have converted to cross stitch and have seen some I have completed and would like them but also would like to make a copy to mark up as they move along can they? I don't know.

Well if they don't like people making copies to work from them, they need to make the original big enough for people with poor eyesight to see with out getting out a magnifying glass. Or supply 2 copies, one for marking on and folding over and over and one to keep spick and span to not get dirty.

If you read the article from the link I posted, it states that almost ALL designers don't mind customers making a working copy for themselves. They know that is going to happen and they would rather the customer make a copy for themselves to use so they can enjoy the design they created. Designers and publishers can't make a design to please every single stitchers eyesight but they do their best, so they understand that making a working copy is going to happen. The article from the link is very informative and every once in a while, I even have to revert back to it to grasp an understanding of it all because it can all be so confusing.

~Kristi @ ECS

I believe that it is okay to GIFT an original pattern as long as you do not intend to stitch the copy again.

I have a pattern in my stash. It says "produced under license from "XXXXX" for the exclusive one-time use of purchaser. Any attempt to copy, photocopy or reproduce this chart is "prohibited."

That is carrying things a little too far. I paid for that pattern. I should be able to stitch it as many times as I want.

I was always under the impression you couldn't sell a pattern if it is still in print but if it is out of print you can give a copy of that pattern to someone. How else would they get it if is out of print? I never heard you couldn't "give" a pattern away. I have given my daughter and another friend patterns for years when I am done with them. I only have so much storage space and if I am going to buy more patterns I need to make room for them. No $ has ever been exchanged for the patterns/copies of out of print patterns I have shared. Just how I interpreted the copyright laws for cross stitch patterns.
cheryl

Kristi, thanks for posting that article. It is very informative and easy to understand.

I am going to post this because I think it is funny. Are any of you old enough to remember the tags on furniture cushions that said if you tore the tag off it was a crime or am I the only old one in the bunch? When I was a kid I was terrified of that warning and was sure NOT to tear them off. Or did my parents have really cheap furniture and I didn't know it? Please someone/anyone tell me they remember the tags. Don't let me be the only crazy one!

I REMEMBER -- Thought that the Mattress Police would come get me. Just recently, maybe two weeks ago, I cut off the tags on the pillows I bought two years ago

Thank you. I think of those days and how you obeyed the law and when you are a kid and see something like those tags, you bet I wouldn't tear one off. That is so funny when memories pop up when you are reading about copyright laws.