It’s a bit of a conundrum, really. A quandary. A poser.
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone played by the same rules—that there was a universal understanding of being equitable and honorable? Oh, but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
I’ve been contacted in the past few months by 3 very kind souls who have seen evidence of my one-and-only knitwear design, Tudora, posted on Etsy. What even makes this a topic for reflection is that the premise of having a design published on Knitty.com is that those patterns are, in Knitty’s own words—
“Yes, they’re free for your personal, individual use. You may print out a copy to work with. But you may not print out multiple copies, you may not reformat the pattern for commercial use, and you may not sell them or items made FROM Knitty patterns. The copyright for each pattern and article belongs to the designer or author. Any usage beyond what’s mentioned here must be negotiated with the designer or author.”
And so briefly, an Etsy seller, Karmacrochet, is selling Tudora on her site. After first being made aware, I contacted the seller and shared Knitty’s policies and kindly asked her to remove any Tudora-type neckwarmers. They were removed and I thought no more about it. A few months later, another email came, sharing the fact that Tudoras are for sale on Etsy. Same seller. Sigh. A few weeks later, yet another email stating that Tudoras are on Etsy. After contacting the seller for a second time, appealing to her sense of rightness, I was informed by her that she is no longer using my pattern, but has fashioned her own and that copyrights only apply to two dimensional drawings, not three dimensional products, or some such thing. Hmmm… But then again, Knitty’s policies state that ‘you may not reformat the pattern for commercial use.’ At the end of the day, though, it is up to the designer (that’s me) to ‘pursue violators to the full extent of the law.’ Sigh again.
I’m not a lawyer. Ah sure, I don’t even have a lawyer. I’m not a full-time designer. My one-off design is more like a one-hit-wonder. It takes time and energy and money to pursue these things.
Here is the original Tudora.

Here is what was being sold on Karmacrochet’s site.

Here is what she is selling as being her own pattern.

I’m not sure what, if anything, is to be done. It’s overwhelming and I’d rather spend my time and energies on more positive, creative endeavors. But it’s the principle of the thing…or so I’m told. What would you say?
But for now, I’ll put it away so I can spend the remainder of my Sunday in more peaceful pursuits.
Postscript: Following some initial comments, I had already contacted Etsy and they encourage first contact with the seller in question (which I have done) and then it seems to escalate quite dramatically. Here’s Etsy’s reply—
“This is a serious allegation. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing. In fact, in Online Policy Group v. Diebold, Inc. a company that sent an infringement notification agreed to pay over $100,000 because the materials were protected by the fair use doctrine. If you are not sure whether the material on Etsy infringes on an intellectual property right, please contact an attorney first.”
Again, attorneys…damages…liability…sigh.