Hi there, blog reader! Before I start today?s post, I?m going to give you a little update about how I?ve been doing?
If you follow me on twitter, you?ll probably notice I?ve been a little sparse the past couple of days, and it?s because I haven?t been feeling well. I thought I had a stomach bug? but increasing severity of symptoms lead to me getting sent to the emergency room last night.
Oy!
It turns out that I have Colitis (that means, ?swollen colon?) and although I?ve gotten some pain medicine, I still feel pretty icky. It?ll be a few days (due to the holiday weekend) before I can get to a GI who?ll sort out the underlying cause (whether it?s a chronic condition or a one-off thing).
Thank you for all of your get-well wishes! I?m doing my best to heal!
In the past couple of days, a rather disturbing design-related event has been unfolding. It involves Trendsetter Yarns?s not-so-nice use of the popular pattern, Wingspan.
You can read the full story on on Wingspan?s designer?s blog. Here?s a very short sketch of what happened:
Trendsetter knit up a sample of Wingspan in their yarn and displayed it on their Facebook page, listing the pattern as Wingspan. They then changed some stitch counts and contacted a lawyer to verify that this not a copyright violation. They are now selling the pattern as part of a booklet and kit as their own.
This situation has the knitting community up in arms. Why? Because it?s not nice.
I?m not a lawyer, and I?m not going to pretend to make any legal judgements.
But there?s something to this issue that gives most designers a bit of a queasy feeling? somehow it feels not quite right that a company can get away with changing a few lines and calling the design their own.
Especially if the finished sample looks nearly identical to the original design. And particularly
if the company admits that they copied the original pattern and tweaked it. We, as designers, understand and accept that designers occasionally are separately inspired to make very similar patterns? but this is not such a case.
One reason why this situation gives me a feeling of the ickies is that so much could have been done to avoid it.
Trendsetter could have:
- Emailed the designer and asked for permission to use her pattern (for free)
- Offered to pay the designer a royalty for using/distributing her pattern
- Hired a designer to design a new pattern that highlights a similar aspect of the yarn, but is original.
- Stuck to showing off samples of Wingspan knit in their yarn? nothing wrong with that!
I?ve been reading the back and forth, and in the end, I just feel sad. So sad that a company would think this course of action is a good idea. Also feeling so sad for the designer? who if she wants to take action would be forced to pay mega legal fees.
Next week, I?m going to talk a bit more about the issue of being inspired by another person?s design, since it?s come up in my Ravelry group as well. As I said, I can?t weigh in on the legal/copyright issue, but I can talk more about the ?gut-feeling? that drives my process.
Source: http://www.freshstitches.com/just-because-its-legal-doesnt-mean-its-nice/
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