Pattern Copyrights

I was putting patterns away this afternoon, and I noticed that on almost all of them was a notice. The author of the pattern claims that I cannot make items for sale from their pattern.

Well, I didn't think that was right. So I did some looking into the matter. And the answer? US Copyright Law says they're wrong! Once that pattern has been bought by me, the author of the pattern has no authority to keep me from using it in any way I like! This applies to patterns that people make available for free, too.

The only thing covered under copyright law are the words used by that author to describe his or her process for making something. Copyright law says I cannot make copies of the pattern to sell or give away or modify the pattern and sell it as my own. The author of the pattern has no control over the end product, ie, the item that I personally make using that pattern.

I found this article online and thought it was VERY interesting. And it's a lot more concise than the actual copyright laws (which I waded through for a goodly portion of the afternoon!)

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/CopyrightLaw/Patterns.shtml