Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Judith Combs" <jadelec1 AT san.rr.com>]

This is my area of interest; it's a contentious subject among several
thousand (mostly) women who are (mostly) otherwise amiable and helpful.
In practice, a designer who is well known can make small sums by being
first to publish, and a few needlework publishers make modest sums.  The
original designers have no chance at all of making money on mass
production by third world little girls.

Recent news has an example:  Martha Stewart emerged from prison wearing
a poncho that was crocheted by a fellow inmate.  The knit and crochet
lists went nuts discussing THE PONCHO.  Two yarn vendors immediately
came out with patterns that were bad copies - Lion Brand for free along
with ads for the yarns, Herrschner's in the form of a $70 kit.
Interweave Press took a somewhat higher road and got a skilled and
well-known designer (Lily Chin) on the CBS Early Show to crochet it and
explain the design concepts, which are fairly basic, based on ideas that
have been around for about 120 years.  Interweave Press also published
the pattern (now called "The Freedom Poncho") for free online and
included a quote from The New York Post that identified the inmate who
crocheted the original.  Interweave then goes on to say:  "We at
Interweave Press hope that Ms. Hernandez knows how appreciative the
crochet audience is of the national spotlight that her gift and
creativity have inspired.  Our Freedom Poncho is a result of that
inspiration.  Interweave Press is also donating subscriptions to several
of its magazines along with a variety of its knitting and crochet books
to the prison facility in Alderson, W. Va.  Interweave Press C 2005.
All rights reserved."
So, there it is.  The ponchos themselves may show up at Kmart - I'm not
sure if Ms. Stewart herself is allowed to profit from the experience.
Judith Combs

          

> 
> You might also want to investigate what happens to needlepoint and
crochet
> people when they try and go into business selling products based on
the
> copyrighted designs of others. I seem to recall reading where this is
a
> no-no
> as well.
> >