Selling Knitting Online - Some Copyright Issues

When you sell your knitting, you may be knitting your wares from patterns. There may, therefore, be copyright issues. Somebody at some point designed the pattern and own the copyrights to it.

Read on to find out more about this topic. The article contains some affiliate links which means that I may receive a small commission should you click on these links and make a purchase.

From what I have researched online, selling knitted goods made by following someone else pattern seems to be a bit of a grey area. I could not find any cases where home crafters have been prosecuted for doing this.

I know that owners of the licences of some characters, for example Thomas the Tank Engine, can force the removal of goods bearing said characters. I know about Thomas the Tank Engine because that happened to a friend of mine. She wasn't prosecuted but her Thomas related good for sale on Etsy were all removed.

From what I remember, she had an issue with The Simpsons aswell.

There are, however, numerous character based knits, patterns, digital art items, and more, available for sale all over the web.

And many more knits which have been made from patterns.

Because I worry, I sell my own designs, or designs from independent designers where they have stated that you can freely use their patterns for selling the finished product. Etsy is a great resource for finding such patterns. Some pattern sellers there clearly state you can not use their patterns for selling your goods, some say yeah go for it.

I noticed that this designer once wrote in a forum that she doesn't mind people selling what they have knit from her patterns (her patterns are beautiful). It would be good practice to contact designers directly  and ask them if it is ok to go ahead before listing such items.

TOP TIP - THIS AUTHOR HAS SOME GREAT QUICK TO KNIT PATTERN BOOKS WHICH YOU CAN USE TO MAKE THINGS TO SELL 

Regarding the sale of items such as dishcloths, baby cardigans, blankets etc knit from patterns, I cannot find any examples of anyone having a problem with having made them from a pattern. As stated before, if in doubt, and if this will worry you, simply contact the designer and gain permission, or sell your own designs.