If you’re going to be selling crochet items or creating and selling patterns, you should be aware of the basic rules of copyright and trademark law. You want to be wary of crocheting something that is covered by copyright. People often confuse the two in meaning, but they work quite differently.
Disclaimer: The following is not legal advice.
This blog post addresses the following question:
- What is a copyright and what should you know about it?
- Can you make pattern or amigurumi of popular characters such as Pokemon or Disney princesses?
- How to use other people’s crochet patterns
- How to protect your crochet pattern
- How to get permission
- Can you copyright crochet patterns?
- How long does copyright protection last?
- What is a trademark?
- How long does trademark protection last?
What is a copyright and what should you know about it?
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression.
What is Copyright? | U.S. Copyright Office
In practice, this means things like written works (including this blog!), paintings, movies, etc. Critically, copyright protection attaches the moment the work is created. You don’t have to register a work in the United States nor do you have to put the (C) symbol on it for the work to be covered by copyright. (You used to, but it hasn’t been a requirement for copyright protection in several decades). There are benefits to registering your copyrighted work, particularly if you wish to initiate a lawsuit of infringement, but it is not strictly necessary. This means you should be aware that you could get in trouble for copying copyrighted work even if that work is not registered.
Can you make patterns or amigurumi of popular characters such as Pokemon, Disney princesses, or Harry Potter characters?
On a practical level, this means you should, be wary of trying to make and sell patterns or amigurumi of popular characters owned by the likes of Disney, Nintendo, and the Warner Brothers. Disney in particular is really aggressive about enforcing its intellectual property, and Warner Brothers is also aggressive about enforcing its Harry Potter intellectual property. There is an officially licensed Harry Potter crochet book that I recommend you use if you’re a big fan instead of creating original patterns. If a character is covered by copyright, I do not recommend making & selling patterns or amigurumi of those characters, particularly online.
How to use other people’s crochet patterns
You cannot take the PDF of someone else’s work and just redistribute it. The entirety of the pattern with all of its photos as a whole is protected by copyright, even if the individual steps inside of the pattern are not. Regardless of the legality of it, it’s also heavily frowned upon to steal other people’s work.
Can a pattern holder control how you use the finished product?
By copyright law — no.
By contract law — maybe. If you purchased the pattern, it’s likely there was some sort of terms of service attached in your purchase. Those terms might also prohibit you from distributing the pattern without permission. However, the terms are only enforceable if you knew about it prior to the purchase.
Does a disclaimer work?
No. You’ll see this a lot where people put up “disclaimers” that they don’t “own” the intellectual property they stole. Crediting the original creator doesn’t give you the right to use the work. That won’t protect you if you’ve stolen someone’s intellectual property.
How to protect your crochet pattern
I go over below whether a pattern can be copyrighted. If you’re looking to protect your crochet pattern, you can try to protect it by contract. That is covered well by this post, so I will just link you to it rather than summarizing it: Can I copyright my knit, crochet, or sewing patterns? (theartistsjd.com) In practice, many crochet patterns try to do this (and the validity of it varies).
However, be warned that on a very practical level, going after people for copyright infringement or breach of contract is tedious, time-consuming, and expensive, so you might not find it worth it to try to enforce. There are also many shady, unscrupulous people who steal and sell patterns. Unfortunately, they tend to sprout up against soon after being reported, and are difficult to track down to enforce against. This is something to be mindful of if you are hoping to create crochet patterns as a source of income.
How to get permission
Most major IP holders don’t really work with small business owners and are unlikely to grant a license to someone to sell a crochet item on Etsy. But, if you’re a fan of something not owned by one of the major IP owners, you might try reaching out to the owners of the IP and asking permission. Some will charge you, but others might allow you to use it for free. Some IP owners specifically give permission to create “fan art” because they understand fan communities.
For example, the game studio BHVR, which creates a popular game I play, Dead by Daylight, has a page on their website that specifically gives fans permission to create versions of their characters as long as the fan does not make money off the endeavor in any way.
Fan-Created Content | Behaviour Interactive (bhvr.com)
Before you create a piece of fan art of your favorite character, take the time to see if there is anything similar from the owner of the copyright for that character.
Can a crochet pattern be copyrighted?
It’s complicated. First off, you generally can’t copyright procedures for making things.
Copyright protection is therefore not available for ideas or procedures for doing, making, or building things; scientific or technical methods or discoveries; business operations or procedures; mathematical principles; formulas or algorithms; or any other concept, process, or method of operation
circ31.pdf (copyright.gov)
Food recipes are clearly not covered by copyright, because a food combination is an idea, not a creative expression, and a recipe is just a procedure. However, cookbooks can be protected, as can crochet patterns, if there’s a “sufficient amount of original authorship”.
Other types of instructional works may be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office,
ch700-literary-works.pdf (copyright.gov)
provided that the work, taken as a whole, contains a sufficient amount of original
authorship. Examples of works that may satisfy this requirement include cookbooks,
instructions for knitting, crocheting, or needlework, instructions for operating a
machine, appliance, or other device, and similar types of works.
In the copyright compendium, it specifically calls out that common geometric shapes such as “chevron patterns” are not eligible for copyright protection.
However, the compendium also says toys and stuffed animals may have the level of creativity needed for copyright protection, with some caveats.
A toy model that is an exact replica of an automobile, airplane, train, or other useful article where no creative expression has been added to the existing design
Compendium_Chapter_Template (copyright.gov)
Useful article: “A ‘useful article’ is an article having an intrinsic utilitarian function that
Compendium_Chapter_Template (copyright.gov)
is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information.
An article that is normally a part of a useful article is considered a ‘useful article.’”
17 U.S.C. § 101.
Toys, dolls, stuffed animals, and puppets are frequently protectable under the U.S.
Compendium_Chapter_Template (copyright.gov)
copyright law as sculptural works. Applicants may use the term “toy,” doll,” “stuffed
animal,” “puppet,” or any other term that reasonably describes the work that the author
created. Alternatively, applicants may describe the type of authorship that the author
contributed to the work, such as “sculpture” or “soft sculpture.
Amigurumi are more likely to rise to the level of protection than a chevron baby blanket. The judgment is subjective, however.
Food bloggers and cookbook publishers try and hope to get around the inability to copyright recipes by fluffing up the content around it. Crochet pattern makers can do this same thing with photos, tips & tricks, and description. That will help make it qualify for copyright protection.
How long does a copyright last?
If the ‘work’ (that’s the legal term for the book, movie, tv show, etc. that is protected by copyright) was created after January 1, 1978:
- Default: Life of the author + 70 years
- Joint work: Life of the author who dies last + 70 years
- Anonymous or Work Made for Hire: 95 years from publication
If the work was created before January 1, 1978, you’ll want to consult the full rules here:
Circular 15A Duration of Copyright
What is a trademark?
A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It’s how customers recognize you in the marketplace and distinguish you from your competitors.
What is a trademark? | USPTO
Even a color can be trademarked — Louboutin famously (among trademark lawyers at least) was able to establish that the red sole of its shoes was covered by trademark when it contrasts with the rest of the shoe. (Read more here if you’re interested). A pattern can’t be trademarked, but you should not use famous trademarked brands when marketing or selling your own crochet creations (e.g. creating a crochet warthog and selling it as Pumbaa from the Lion King).
However, just because you own the trademark of something like a word or image, it doesn’t mean you can prevent others from using it in all circumstances. First, trademarks are limited to some specific category of goods or services it is associated with. Second, others can still use the mark in some ways — for example, I can fairly use the word Disney in this blog post when describing the company itself. However, you couldn’t create crochet designs of dolls and put “Disney” in your listing when you sell it.
Similar to copyright, you don’t strictly have to register a trademark to have it be valid, but there are additional protections afforded by registration, which you can read about here if you’d like.
On a practical level, though, for most people doing crochet, it’s another reason why you should be wary of trying to make and sell patterns or amigurumi of popular characters.
How long does trademark protection last?
The trademark can last forever as long as the owner does maintenance to show that it continues to use it. There is also a risk that trademarks can be genericized — for example, escalator used to be a brand name, but now it’s just a generic term.
2 thoughts on “Copyright, Trademarks, and Crochet: What you need to know”