Pattern Copying

[Missie]

I’ve just bought a pattern from eBay ....a Vogue pattern, it’s what we used to call a discard, it has the folded pattern and the instructions but no envelope, however the envelope has been copied and that coy was included. I didn’t realise all this, just thought I was buying a normal pattern, I checked on her listing and she says all patterns have no envelope.... I thought selling these discards wasn’t allowed.

What is a discard and why does it have to be destroyed?  I saw a whole bunch of patterns such as these being sold in a B&M shop recently.

[b15erk]

As I understand it, they are not allowed to be sold at full price, with the colour cover.  That's what I was told in my local fabric shop, where I frequently buy these 'discards' - usually pay just a pound or two.

Many years ago, I had several boxes of these given to me by a lady who was retiring from the fabric shop she owned in Prescot.  I also inherited her sewing machine.

Jessie

[Ohsewsimple]

No they aren’t allowed to be sold.  Instructions are issued by the companies when the discard book comes through.  And it clearly states that the patterns themselves should be destroyed and the envelopes returned to the pattern companies.  However, what the shops actually do with them is another matter. 

[charlotte]

Just to add to the discussion, it's interesting to consider this from a real life designer's point of view. One of my favourite knitting designers, Kate Davis, offered one of her first patterns, owls, as a free download when she first released it. Debenhams then released a jumper for sale that was almost identical. I think the blog posts about it have mainly been deleted, but it was very difficult for her to pursue any legal action due to being unable to demonstrate any financial loss. Copyright law can be tricky to get your head around, but when you start thinking about it in terms of a real person having their design 'stolen', it makes more sense, to me at least.

Also, the Kate Davis' story had a happy ending, as Debenhams made a donation of £5,000 to Chest, Heart, and Stroke Scotland, which was a cause very close to her.

That said, it is much more difficult to sympathise when we are talking about older OOP patterns, not to mention that it would be impossible to not draw inspiration from fashion designers and and ready to wear collections (amongst very many other things) - I want to sound clever here and add a quote about there being no truly original ideas/ production in the world but I can't remember it! 

[Ohsewsimple]

@Missie sorry I didn’t reply to your question.  A discard is a discontinued pattern.  Every few months a stock check has to be done of the patterns held in the cabinets.  Sometimes there is a new catalogue issued and along with that there may be discontinued patterns as well as new ones.  The discontinued patterns have to be destroyed.  Presumably so they cannot be sold on.  And sending them back would be prohibitively expensive as there can be over 100 of them each time. 

[Efemera]

I contacted the eBay seller but they seemed totally unconcerned.