Hi Madelyn.

My reaction to this is 'why would I bother to buy the magazine!'  As a long time weaver I don't need need to 'copy' anything.  I have more ideas in my head than I have years left to weave.

But  beginners need the drafts, sets and suggestions for materials. Classes and teachers and mentors are not always available. For them it's a teaching tool.

For me Handwoven is strictly eye candy.

Mageez

That is patently not true, please see www.copyright.gov/.../circ40.pdf for more information.  One cannot sell the pattern.  One can certainly make an article from a pattern and sell it.  The pattern is copyrighted, NOT the useful article.

Hi Mageez!

(I already answered this once and am not sure where the answer went. )

I am not sure what you are saying in your post. We definitely want our readers to make the projects. It is very true that they are an ideal teaching tool. By weaving them, you learn about setts, drafts, structures, yarns, color--all the aspects of weaving that you need to know. And this is perfectly OK.

Madelyn

Susan, you are not correct in saying that our readers can follow project instructions and sell an object they make by following them. The instructions are copyrighted, that is correct, but they cannot be used for individual profit. I'm not sure how you are interpreting the word, "pattern."

Madelyn

Just to clarify. It IS a copyright violation to use the published project instructions in Handwoven to make an item using the same yarns, same colors, same numbers of ends, same draft, same finishing methods and sell the item for profit.

Please read more about this in an article written by a copyright attorney.

www.weavingtoday.com/.../62.aspx

Madelyn

Would it make a difference if one credits the owner of the copyright? I mean, plagiarism is when one passes a written piece off as one's own when it was written by someone else.... but if one quotes it with references within one's own work I believe that's OK. What if one gets written permission from the copyright owner to enter a woven piece into a competition or sell it at a bazaar (say, for charity), providing due credit is given? Does that make it OK? Does Handwoven ever state that a project in the magazine is free of copyright, the owner having given permission for instructions to be used freely by all who have the ability and inclination to undertake the project? Surely, when one paints a picture by someone else and states that it is 'after' the original artist, no-one is being deceived and anyone buying it knows it's not an original.

I know it's always best and safest to do one's own thing, use one's own photograph, design one's own warp etc...... but it is so helpful to follow a master. Enough said, I guess.

Ok, I'm confused... what about the recurring feature in Handwoven called Weave to Sell, which gives a draft and instructions and also a suggestion of what to charge for the item?

Hi Jacqueline!

It doesn't remove violation if you credit the source. Remember, the violation is only if you are selling the item, not for just making it.

And, we do in Handwoven have a feature called Weave to Sell. For that feature, Handwoven and the designer both grant permission for readers to use the instructions to make things to sell. (I'm thinking from this discussion that we should do more of that!) So, Heather, it is definitely OK to use the Weave to Sell project instructions to make and sell the items.

Oh! Interesting! Thanks. :)