but it’s still copyright infringement…
I can appreciate the exitement this knitter feels, her desire to share something she’s enjoyed, but this act of niceness is also a pretty straightforward infrigement on the copyright of one of my patterns. My best seller. Damn.
If you find yourself hankering to upload someone’s pattern and ‘share’ it with your friends – even if it’s ‘just a small group of friends who get together once a week’ – please don’t. There are a LOT of free patterns out there – heck, I have some here on my website – so there’s really no need to cut into a designer’s source of income.
I really hesitate to call it theft, because obviously that was NOT the spirit in which this pattern was uploaded and shared. But we all have to understand that what may seem an innocent ‘cost cutting’ measure, when multiplied by everyone who finds this pattern online and doesn’t buy it from me, could add up to some serious money. Of course, my definition of serious money may be different than most – anything with a President is serious enough – but it’s money none the less.
I’ve written to the person who posted this and asked her to remove it, which I’m sure she will. If anyone sees this kind of ‘sharing’ going on with my pattern or any other copyrighted pattern (including scans from a book or magazine which have been posted online – that’s no kosher either…) please let the person who posted it know that it’s just not a cool thing to do. Be nice, but let them know. (Being not nice is just as likely to get their back up, then they’ll NEVER want to take the darned pattern down!)
The Regard of Flight
Tomorrow I fly off to Indianapolis – much quicker than driving (which I did this summer) and hopefully more enjoyable. Although I really did love the drive through Ohio and Pennsylvania. Perhaps I was a long-route trucker in a past life? I’ll be at the Stitches And Scones event, and it promises to be absolutely delightful! I’m thrilled with the classes that they’ve chosen for me to teach, it’s an exciting and eclectic mix. I hope if you are a blog reader and you’re in the area you’ll come by and say, “HI!” I promise I’ll try not to just give you a blank look (which I do so often…)
Getting ON THE STICK!
I have two essays in semi polished form which I MUST FINISH before I leave tomorrow. One is on knitting, the other on Jewish/Christian Holiday Celebrations (you didn’t know I write interfaith essays, huh?) I’m going to go for a long walk with Atticus to get my juices flowing, then a solid few hours on my booty writing should do the trick. What a glorious, windy, chilly, sunny day it is, too – for a walk! I may just have to put a sweater on Atticus!
RED!
This week is RED week at my kid’s school, to raise awareness of HIV in Africa (Bono’s project with Bobby Shriver) It would be fun to get that red credit card… But that’s only for the UK, I think… I did get up at 5:30 to dye my hair red, though. It’s lovely.
We are all, at heart, Amish. We long for a barn raising where we can put our shoulder to the frame and raise up the structure – help our neighbors then all have a nice dinner (I’ll sit next to Harrison Ford, thank-you-very-much…)
So I’m hopeful that an all out call to halt the spread of HIV/Aids in Africa will work. We have so much power – and we can accomplish so much when we use it for good.