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What to do if you think you have a new crochet technique?
Hello,
I have been in touch with a few people about this but I haven't thrown the question out into the world like this before... What do you do if you think you have a new crochet technique? What is the usual route you follow, and any alternatives? I want to share it with everyone, but I'm afraid of it being stolen before I get it properly published... and then after publication, I'm concerned that it might not reach a wide enough group of people. If it is stolen... too bad, I'm not paying a lawyer to get it back. I've never been a pro crocheter, or even a pro crafter, so oh well... but I don't want my one good idea to be lost. The Mage |
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The Mage wrote:
snippage What do you do if you think you have a new crochet technique? What is the usual route you follow, and any alternatives? I want to share it with everyone, but I'm afraid of it being stolen before I get it properly published... and then after publication, I'm concerned that it might not reach a wide enough group of people. Well, first suggestion, after Els' excellent advice to research and make sure it *is* new, is to submit an article explaining it, with a sample project pattern write-up (better chance of selling the article), to a crafts magazine. (after finding out how they want submissions sent and all that.) Not only do you get credit and payment - albeit not much, since writers usually get something between 5-10 cents a word - but it does get published. To find out how to submit and who to contact at any particular magazine, check their website, or buy a copy of the mag and look in their listings of contacts, etc. Then write, email or call them about it. Actually, any receptionist at a publication should have all that info; you probably wouldn't have to try to track down a specific editor or department. S/he's probably got it memorized, and could tell you, or mail you submission guidelines on request, or after you send a written request with an SASE. As far as I know, you usually don't need an agent to submit articles to magazines; that's more of a freelance situation. If you don't want to buy any mags and can't get contact info any other way, again, go to your local library. Ask them where the Standard Rate & Data Services reference books are. (aka SRDS.) These are huge books covering pretty much every publication, in the US anyway. (Presumably other countries have similar reference books hidden in their libraries, too, but heaven only knows what they call them. g) These books are mostly used for checking out advertising rates - ok, that's how *I* know about them g - but they also give such pertinent info as address, major staff names & departments, phone numbers, subject of publication, frequency of publication, circulation, distribution--everything you'll need to decide which one you'd want to contact, and how to get in touch with 'em. The SRDS are updated a couple times a year, if I remember right, and any central library in larger cities should have them in their reference section. You won't be allowed to check them out, though, so it'd be kind of difficult if you can't get to a major library. Inter-library loan won't work with these books. In that case, best best would be to find out which libraries have any crafts magazines that cover crocheting, and look in them for contact info. Or covertly copy down the info while looking at mags in a store--although that may get you into trouble. g Or sell - somewhere - a pattern using the technique, and make sure the blurb notes that there's a new technique given in the pattern. Creating leaflet-type printed patterns is pretty simple, as long as you have a word processing or DTP program and know how to use it. Write up the technique and pattern, making sure to find someone to help you proof it. (you *always* miss stuff yourself, even with spell-check and reading it backwards for typos; trust me on this. I used to be a WP/DTP specialist. I *know*. bg) Include some good pix and diagrams. Print at home if you have a printer, or take the doc on floppy to a place like Kinko's and print up umpteen copies. *Then* is when you run into the harder part - selling 'em. You have to find a distributor, or independent shops, or a chain of stores, interested in buying your pattern. Or you could sell it from a website, in which case see below for ideas on spreading the word. Caveat: Selling patterns means you're starting a business, and this means licensing, taxes, blah blah blah. Yechh. Plus, if you manage to find buyers all over the country, production costs will probably go up, even if you go to a regular printer. (places like Kinko's are kind of expensive for big projects. ok for small amounts, since many bigger print businesses won't even *do* small runs; i.e, less than a couple thousand. although if you have pix - and you will, because people want pix in patterns or technique descriptions - those will be more expensive anyway, even at someplace like Kinko's. but if you start getting up into big numbers, you'll probably want to to find a bigger printing biz to get a better price break. note: B&W is *always* cheaper than color printing, no matter where you go. 2-color is a little more expensive. 4-color - as in realistic photos - is the most expensive, since in anything but laser/photocopy/inkjet methods, they use the 4-color separation process. which means a page with photo/color illustration is run through a press 4x. it's not the 4 colors of ink that's so expensive, it's the number of times a page has to run through the big, honkin' expensive press.) Other than that, pretty much the only other thing I can think of is teaching it in classes at a yarn/craft store, or writing a book/pamphlet that someone will want to publish. Both involve a lot of work. Classes, you have to sell the idea to a store, figure out a lesson plan, write up - and print - hand-outs, make up samples, and have the time for teaching. Plus be *able* to teach; both the time, and the ability. If a book or pamphlet, it'll still be lots of work even if you bypass the selling the idea to a publisher bit - and getting an agent - and instead, go straight to a vanity press, and pay to publish it yourself. Writing ain't all that easy. Besides, using a vanity press, then *you* have to advertise, promote, and sell the book/pamphlet, just as you would with only a pattern. And no one may be interested after all that trouble. Researching interest in a publication is just one of the things publishers do for you. Plus, both these options *also* mean business-type legal stuff you have to do. Alternatively, you could make a web page about it, then join one of the webrings for crochet sites--those increase webpage hits considerably. Also list the page with every search engine you can, and find other pages that'll put up links to yours. Then at least it'll spread through the computerized population - although you won't make any money off it. But hey, you also won't be paying any business fees. As to copyright - Bart also asked about copyrighting a new technique a while ago, and I came forth with the following long screed. g (people ask questions, I tend to go off and research... yes, I waste a lot of time, but I've got a lot to waste, I'm on disability and don't work. ::snicker: Probably more than you want to know, but just in case you thought of trying to copyright a technique... "Disclaimer - not a lawyer, not a lawyer, not a lawyer. But I wondered too, so did some really quick research to confirm my suspicions. Can't copyright the technique--at least under US law. Go check out the US Gov't circular on copyright he http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wnp then choose the link for the question, 'What is *not* protected by copyright?' (my asterisks for emphasis, there). Read paragraph 4 of that section. It says, and I quote in part: "Ideas, procedures, methods,... as distinguished from a description, explanation..." Their definition of what copyright protects boils down to *authorship* of things, not invention of techniques. Which means copyright doesn't do diddly for a new stitch or technique - only for anything you *write* about it. Or film, record, paint, draw, sculpt... ) Presumably, however, anyone could learn your method and cheerfully show others, as long as they weren't copying your written-up instructions word for word and handing 'em out, publishing them, etc. (again, remembering I'm not a lawyer. I could be wrong about that, but if so, then any of us who've taught someone else to knit, crochet, etc., from memory even, is in deep trouble. g heck, we're in trouble for teaching someone to *cook*, especially specific published recipes, if definitions are that strict. this I doubt.) Also, *possibly*, if they wrote an explanation of how to do it in sufficiently different words than you did, they could pass *their* description around and still be ok. Maybe. That's where a lawyer comes in. It's likely, though; Ginger Luters, Vivian Hoxbro, and Horst whosis all use mitered knitting techniques in their patterns, which have become all the rage. While their individual patterns are copyright, the techniques themselves aren't. People everywhere are legally publishing their own copyright patterns based on the mitered knitting techniques; ditto instructions for the techniques themselves. Note that the original *descriptions* and original *designs* made from the technique are copyright -- not the technique. If you could copyright a stitch, designers would be pretty stuck. "Oh no...a yarn-over is a copyright stitch, I can't use it in my design!" Uhhh...no. Not happening. Nor are knitting/crocheting patented, for that matter - they're too old and too widely used. And I'll betcha new methods are considered to simply be variations of techniques already known, therefore not patentable. (just a personal opinion, there, please note. yes, I'm disclaiming like mad - it's called CYA, which in these modern times is necessary. I repeat, I'm not a lawyer; get one if you want real professional advice.) However, you might check into patents. Although again, I dunno if something like a new stitch or knitting/crochet technique is 'new and useful' enough to qualify - because of the previous length of existence thing. That phrase 'new and useful', btw, is one part of how the US Patent Office's site defines a 'utililty' patent. The other kind of patent your idea may come under would be a 'design' patent, although that seems to refer more to decorative ideas, rather than technical. I'm also betting you'd have to search out all the other connecting methods, and make sure your method hadn't been discovered and shown by anyone else, ever. I wasn't *so* interested that I researched who has to provide the burden of proof as to whether something's original enough to qualify for a patent. g I have no idea if it's the Patent Office or the originator that has to do the work. Now, if you created an *entirely* new way to work a strand of yarn to create a fabric, which in no way resembled knitting, crocheting, knotting, naalbinding, tatting, etc., that'd be more likely to get a patent, from the sounds of it. Better yet, invent a machine to do it with, and patent *that*. But I'm not a patent lawyer, either, so take a look at the FAQs on the US Patent site and see! Go to following page: http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/faqs.htm Choose the link for "Patents", which you'll find about halfway down, right underneath the Native American Tribal Insignia Database link. The Patents FAQ page has links at the top to the page segments containing short descriptions of patents, trademarks, and *copyright*, helpfully enough. Also check the links on that same page for "What Can Be Patented" and "Novelty and Non-Obviousness, Conditions For Obtaining a Patent." (the non-obvious bit is particularly interesting. the idea seems to be that if, in general, someone else skilled in whatever you're doing could probably figure out the same thing you did, then you don't get a patent. Then, personally, I'd email and ask 'em about it. Things look veeewwwyyy fuzzy in there. Frankly, if you wanna make any money off of it, or prevent others from doing so/using it without paying you a fee, I'd get a lawyer." Whew. Monica (yeesh - see what you tend to do after having worked in advertising/PR/WP/DTP environments for umpteen years? LOL) CMMPDX2 at aol remove 'eat.spam' to email me --------- "No, that isn't me you saw - I'm not here, I'm incognito!" (Me, Myself & I) Support our Troops!! http://www.wtv-zone.com/kjsb/bataan.html |
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CMM PDX2 wrote:
snip Excellent explanation, MOnica! Katherine |
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In article ,
(TheMage) wrote: (CMM PDX2) wrote in message ... Alternatively, you could make a web page about it, then join one of the webrings for crochet sites--those increase webpage hits considerably. Also list the page with every search engine you can, and find other pages that'll put up links to yours. Then at least it'll spread through the computerized population - although you won't make any money off it. But hey, you also won't be paying any business fees. I'm so glad you mentioned this to me. This was my original plan, however, I don't understand trademarks, such as "Turned Toe(tm)" in the "Socks soar on two circular needles" booklet. Or, the trademarks surrounding something like CroTat(tm). I know that tm means the trademark is not registered and r means that it is registerered. But could someone see my technique online, publish their own set of instructions for it, give it a cool name, and sell it under their own trademark? That would, at best, make me feel used. At worst, they might try to bring legal action against my site if I decide to identify my technique description by the cool trademarked name. I wouldn't want to create confusion by NOT identifying the existence of the trademark on my site. That's why I didn't go this way... so far. Any thoughts? The Mage Come to think of it, my daughter went through a similar thing. She published a puppy kit, and the way she did it she thought it was unique. However in the end she hired a special lawyer, to check it all out, including the name they wanted to use for their new kit and company. It is costly, but you do get protected that way. I would think that the public library is a good start to find out all the details. I also wonder if there are business schools close where your live, who's students are willing to help you with the legal aspects. It may not nearly be so costly that way.. I know that in Toronto, Reyerson's Institude has a program where you can go for help. Keep us posted and follow through. Els -- hate spam not welcome |
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(note - thanks, Katherine! g flattery will get you everywhere...)
Ok, this is long again...you are forewarned. g Again, disclaimer for the more arcane, involving-legalities stuff: Not a lawyer, not an expert, dunno all the ramifications, this is only what I've learned through reading and my own *very* limited experiences as mentioned below. *Way* below. The Mage wrote: How does a person verify that the technique is new? Lots of people have suggested that, but no one seems to have a plan for it. Then Els wrote: For that kind of thing I would contact the weaving musea in the States as well as in Canada and ask for help there. I am sure the will help you with historical info. There are also very well know artists and Textile historians who have written books. They may also be a good source for that kind of info What Els said. Any time you want to track down the sources of something like this, you're talking what could be a huge amount of research. Doing the above could be just the *start* of it. The question is how far do you want/need to go? How much time do you want to spend - weeks, months, a couple years? Exactly how much do you need to find out before you're satisfied that you have the right answer? Or as close as you can get, anyway. Maybe no one knows the exact answer; that's always a possibility, too, considering the fact that crochet's been around for so long. In which case you just need to know if anyone is *currently* using your technique and has already published instructions out there somewhere; which may be easier. Or not. It's like researching anything else; same as a reporter does for background on an article; a student writing a college paper or an entire thesis; or anyone writing a book. You search every source you can find, read massive amounts, spend hours in libraries, contact experts, take huge amounts of notes, etc., etc. If you've never done this kind of research before, you simply have to learn how. Find books that tell you how to research things. (library again. and the librarians; they're used to helping students find out how to research. but they won't do it *for* you, they'll just give you ideas of how to do it, and how to learn to do it.) Or take a class in researching; check the web for that, as well as your local colleges, etc. Try web sites that advise would-be authors; plenty of those have segments on doing research. Google for 'how to write', 'writing advice', 'doing research', and such. Or pay someone to research the question - usually not an option, unless you've got money to burn. Nowadays, at least, you can start out on the web, as well as in your library. Then, as Els said, write museums, textile historians, authors of related articles you've read in magazines... anyone who's an expert on whatever technique you're researching. Not all will help you, but plenty will. (although some may ask for a fee, in which case you have to decide how necessary their input may be.) Answers from sources such as these will lead you to other resources, which you'll have to research, and repeat ad infinitum until you're satisfied. Mirjam here on rcty would be one of the first sources I'd suggest, as she's definitely an artist, uses crochet a lot, and knows a heckuva lot about textile history. Depending on how hard it is to find the info, and how much is known about the history of crochet, you're going to have a lot of work ahead of you if you want a really definitive answer. But that's up to you. The Mage wrote: (CMM PDX2) wrote: Alternatively, you could make a web page about it, then join one of the webrings for crochet sites--those increase webpage hits considerably. Also list the page with every search engine you can, and find other pages that'll put up links to yours. snip I'm so glad you mentioned this to me. This was my original plan, however, I don't understand trademarks, such as "Turned Toe(tm)" in the "Socks soar on two circular needles" booklet. Or, the trademarks surrounding something like CroTat(tm). I know that tm means the trademark is not registered and r means that it is registerered. Actually, if I remember right, (tm) *does* mean that a trademark has been established. I think (r)/registered is somewhat different - a little lesser protection, or more, or in conjunction with a trademark - but I'm not sure; I've forgotten. That's something you'll have to research, also. See further below for *some* idea of what a trademark is, too. However: I do know you *cannot* just slap (tm) or (r) on something, the way you do with a copyright notice. That doesn't make it legal or protect your rights to the trademark. Copyright is intrinsic protection with anything you write; trademarks and registrations have legal formalities you must to go through first, plus fees to be paid for getting exclusive rights to a trademark. I think if you don't follow the process, anyone who wants to can steal a trademark out from under you by paying the fees to trademark the name before you do. (I *think*; again, not an expert.) First, trademarks have to be researched, to make sure you're not infringing on the rights of someone who's already registered the trademark you're thinking of; or anything even close to it. A new trademark cannot be a duplicate of any other trademark in existence; i.e., the name has to be different enough to be distinctly noticeable, by whatever arcane rule of thumb the gov't has established. This means fees. I can't remember if you do that part through a lawyer, or some firm specializing in researching trademarks; I'm only going by vague memories here. And those are from when the savings & loan company I worked for was developing a trademark for the name we were going to call our brand-new ATM machines in our ads. (this was during the time ATM machines were just starting to come into use. quite a while ago!) We had to pay some firm to research the names we were thinking of, and I remember getting umpteen pages of lists of trademarks. We had to go through pages and pages of already-established trademarks to see if ours was too similar to anything that even vaguely resembled the names we had come up with. I believe this process is a legal requirement. (unless you wanna take the risk of being sued...) Then, once you know your trademark is unique, there's *more*. You have to pay again to have it recorded in some bureau or other. (whatever the gov't calls the office/bureau that handles trademarks.) As I recall, the fee's pretty hefty. The whole process took several months, if I remember right, and definitely included lawyers. This is something else you'll have to look up; I'd suggest Googling for a government site on trademarks so you can read up on them, to understand what they're about, what they cost, and what the process is of getting one. Any book about selling your crafts should have a very basic section on this to help you get started, and possibly will explain the bare bones a little more clearly than the government info. g I'd suggest the library again, as well as gov't websites on trademark requirements. Whatever, if you decide to trademark, you're going to need professional legal advice. It's not something you can really do by yourself, there are too many rules and regs, as I recall. Not to mention filing legal papers probably *has* to be done by a lawyer or firm. A trademark won't do anything to protect the technique; that's more the patent end of things, if it's unique enough to be patentable. And that takes fees too. I'm not talking about those stupid come-on's from companies that say they'll get something patented for you; those are pretty much a con. Go straight to the US Patent Office website instead, and read up on the process. If necessary, just hire a patent lawyer or para-legal or whatever to do anything you find too difficult to understand; no matter what they cost, they won't be cheating you. Well, supposing they're not shysters. g But any fees for filing a patent itself go to the Patent Office, not to some company that says they'll help you get one. You go to one of them, you'll be paying them to do a bunch of stuff you could do yourself, *plus* the Patent Office fee. The Patent Office regularly warns people about such companies, basically saying they're a crock. Now, going by rather vague memory here, trademarks have more to do with brand names and brand recognition, rather than an intellectual right in a process or technique. Like Coca-Cola/Coke. Lots of mfrs. make cola beverages; but there's only one called Coke. Take Disney, for example. Their cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, etc., are trademarked, and this means that *no* one can use the image, name, etc., of Mickey Mouse without the following: Disney's permission (and they'll wanna know how a person will use it); paying a fee for a license to use it; plus paying Disney royalties on any of the profits made from the use/sale of anything connected with the image. Which means anyone who designs and/or makes something with Mickey's image or name on it and sells it, without licensing, etc., and paying those fees - even selling at a flea market or garage sale - is breaking the law. Even if the pattern of whatever they're putting Mickey on is their design. Even if all they're doing is painting Mickey on a T-shirt. *Mickey* isn't theirs to sell. Neither is the name 'Mickey Mouse', with his pic or not. And yes, Disney does prosecute any infringement of their numerous trademarks! Those books about selling your crafts tend to use infringing on Disney's rights as *the* Horrible Example, because they *do* go after anyone they hear about using any of their trademarked characters, names, etc. Even little old ladies selling Mickey potholders at the aforementioned flea markets. (they'd go after folks selling Disney stuff at church bazaars if they had enough people to track 'em down, from what's said. g) Yes, companies sell patterns for sweaters with Mickey on them, and crafts magazines have articles on how to make something with the image of Mickey...but the publishers of those have paid the fees to be allowed to do so. They're not selling the *results* of said pattern - that'd involve yet more fees. And it's understood that your buying the pattern, etc., gives you the right to make that item for personal use or as a gift. You paying for the pattern gives you *that* right. It doesn't give you the right to then use the pattern to make things that you're going to sell, with that trademarked image of Mickey Mouse on them. Your purchase of it only entitled you to 'reasonable use' or some such term. 'Reasonable use' doesn't involve making money off it, without paying additional fees yourself, to both Disney *and* whoever owns the pattern rights. This is only one of the places where trademark and copyright overlap, and get really, really confuzzling. Basically, though, such a pattern would combine both rights, in my rather limited understanding of either. Disney for the trademark rights, the publisher of the pattern for the copyright. So you'd have to pay both of 'em more fees to use it to make items for sale. On the other hand, the idea and technique of putting a picture - of Mickey or anything else - painted, stamped, drawn, embroidered, by whatever method, on a T-shirt, is *not* the right of only one corporation in the entire world. Anyone can come up with their own art, decorate a T-shirt with it, and sell the result...so long as the art is original, or licensed from the legal owner. The way it's put on the shirt is a technique, and the technique is freely available for anyone to use. Unless it's patentable, and has been patented. See the diff?? The examples you mentioned, of "Turned Toe (tm)" and "CroTat (tm)", are simply those companies' particular *names* for a technique. The people who paid for the trademark rights to those names own those names; not the technique. Others can use the techniques, and write about it, but they can't *call* the techniques by those particular names, because the names are trademarked. On the other hand, the name 'Kitchener', used for a particular style of grafting two knit pieces together, isn't trademarked - and it's gotten attached to the technique more by popular usage than by deliberate intent. So people don't have to pay any legal fees every time they mention 'Kitchener stitch' in some publication. A good example is the Xerox people having hissy fits every time someone says - in print - that they Xeroxed 100 copies, instead of using the word 'photocopied.' Xerox *hates* that. g The name Xerox is trademarked; photocopy isn't. Xerox wants people to only use 'Xeroxed' if the copies were actually made on a Xerox machine. Anything else, they want you to use 'photocopies.' I can't remember where, but do remember reading a very long, stuffy blurb about that by Xerox. And the Kleenex people don't want you to call all facial tissues 'Kleenex.' Not that they can manage to prosecute everyone who uses their trademark names generically, but they'd sure love to. Brand-name recognition equals money... But could someone see my technique online, publish their own set of instructions for it, give it a cool name, and sell it under their own trademark? That would, at best, make me feel used. At worst, they might try to bring legal action against my site if I decide to identify my technique description by the cool trademarked name. I wouldn't want to create confusion by NOT identifying the existence of the trademark on my site. As far as I know, as per all my above, the answer is - yep. But to get the real skinny and do it right, get a lawyer if you want to call your technique a specific name and keep the rights to the name. Save up to pay for the advice and registering all the rights. Even so, people could still publish their own instructions; they just couldn't call it by the same name you do. Unless you patented the technique, if it's possible to do so. As far as I know. I'm not a trademark lawyer, so go to a real one. Or a patent lawyer, if you want to find out definitively about protecting your rights to the actual technique. Or both. This is where getting a book published would be easier. Copyright would, I think, cover the cool technique name you used in the book, and your publisher would handle all the legal details. But I have no idea if they'd actually trademark the cool name or not, or if it'd be necessary. The cool name would probably be used in the title of the book, and then the usage rights would probably be covered by copyright...but I'm not sure. That's for a lawyer to tell you. And that's all I know. g Finito. From here on out, it's your puppy. Good luck! Monica CMMPDX2 at aol remove 'eat.spam' to email me --------- "No, that isn't me you saw - I'm not here, I'm incognito!" (Me, Myself & I) Support our Troops!! http://www.wtv-zone.com/kjsb/bataan.html |
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