Copyright may seem scary but it's a simple concept - and it can protect your creations from intellectual property theft. Illustration by Ellen Lindner.
Did World Intellectual Property Day pass you by? Well, me too. But there's cause to celebrate even after the fact, as Interweave Press - the world-renowned purveyor of crafty book magic - has released a sweet series of free e-books, all about copyright for crafters and artists.
What is copyright? Well, it's a legal convention that gives you the right to control what happens to your original creations for a limited time - usually for your lifetime plus a certain number of years after your death (in other words, plenty!) It varies from country to country - reflecting, say, the precepts of the US Constitution, or the centuries of precedent built into the British legal tradition.
As a crafter, protecting your intellectual property may not be as big a priority as making your next sale, or making sure that your next pattern is quintessentially drool-inducing. But here at Crafty Crafty we've seen too many corporations (and others!) playing fast and loose with creators' copyright - check out this article by Friend of Crafty Perri Lewis for info on just one case or our recent post on the Tatty Devine debacle.
So when you have a moment, download one of these free e-books, and research your country's laws about copyright. A little reading now might save you a bit of trouble down the road.
