Crafters urged to get educated on copyrights

As a crafter, you put time, talent and care into each creation. Experts say you should also spend a few moments making sure you're not violating any copyrights and protecting your own original work.

"We all love to create, but very few us know what the rules are," says Tammy Browning-Smith, an Amherst, Ohio-based attorney who concentrates on intellectual property law in creative industries, including arts and crafts.

She says crafters' most common mistake when it comes to copyrights is assuming they can use another person's work, whether it's photocopying a pattern or making a replica of an item seen online. Her recommendation: Always check the designer's, manufacturer's or publisher's instructions. Often, it takes only seconds of research to make sure you're not infringing on someone else's idea, she says.

"Crafting is meant to be fun, and it's just a very small thing to follow basic respect of others and enjoy it even more," Browning-Smith says.

So what's the harm in photocopying a pattern for a friend, or sewing a handmade Mickey Mouse or Strawberry Shortcake onto a child's T-shirt?

If the copyright owner hasn't given you permission to use the material and would see your use as infringement, then it's illegal. Some companies have bought the rights to make patterns based on TV and movie characters. Even if you buy an approved pattern to make an item featuring a copyrighted character, you can't put it up for resale without the copyright owner's direct permission.

At her website Craft Designs for You, Cherie Marie Leck reminds crafters that other artists make a living designing patterns and instruction books. Every time you copy an idea without paying, she says, you are taking money from them, the shop owners who sell the patterns and the publishers who print them.

"Designers make very little money, and it hurts them deeply both financially and emotionally when their source of income is stolen from them by the very customers and crafters who want to stitch their patterns," she writes at her site under the heading "Copyright Theft Hurts!"

If you were to get caught and be sued, it could cost you a lot of money. Friends who accept photocopied or scanned patterns, or members of online groups that share patterns without permission can also get in trouble.

Leck writes: "You may think you are being generous by sharing a copied pattern with someone who perhaps can't afford to buy it, but you are really sharing someone else's property that you don't have the right to share."