I have been having some deep discussions about art, ideas, patterns & copyrights with several artists lately. It seems that there are people that think it's ok to take someone else's pattern & reproduce it many times over, & sell it, saying it's their own because they made it, & feel no guilt in this act. Crafters have been doing it for ages, therefore it's ok , right? Is a simple idea copyrightable?  Is it ethically proper to take someone else's pattern, produce the product, and then place a tag on it stating it's your original?  Is this just taking and using someone's pattern or just using a particular technique, as the craft person stated?

What's right & what's wrong? I don't like doing patterns because I really want my work to be my own. I enjoy teaching others, but feel like I've had something stolen from me when a student took my envelope style Reverse-A-Purse, & started selling them here in our small community without ever asking me.

I think this may mean some bad Kharma for her. I think it is a life lesson for me & will forever change the way I teach. I would like to make others more aware that there are some moral & ethical issues here, even if legally Copyright Law is so darned ambiguous that it can be argued until we're all blue in the face, & still never be solved.

The bottom line is ASK. Ask for permission before you start reproducing something you learn from someone else. It'll save you some heartaches.