I emailed Accent woodcraft design just to tell them that i really liked the past owners fretwork designs and that I wish that they would offer the same patterns for sale. I couldn't find any fretwork patterns on their site. My c.d. full of the previous owners designs fails to function on my computer. Their designs were all big cuts and rarely fine cuts and yet great representations of the subject. Clean and simple. They were the only site that had a ruffed grouse fretwork pattern. I told them I was looking for their loon,heron and eagle pattern for the back of my personal scroll saw apparel. I always put my kayaker on the front and wanted water wildlife on the back.
This is the response and then some.
Hi,
We are slowly getting these patterns back up and available for sale. You should be aware that all those patterns are copyright protected. Any permission that may have been given to you by the former owner was not transferable.
If you have any other questions please just let me know.
Woodwork Safely,
Jim Barry
WoodchuckCanuck.com, Inc.*
117 Hwy 316
Loch Katrine, Nova Scotia
CANADA B0H-1M0
Tel: 902-783-2144
Then below that was this copyright information. Just like the music industry.
Copyright Infringement and how it affects everybody.
Some companies offer a free woodworking plan on their web site from time to time. It is offered to their customers and site visitors to build projects and to promote good will. The free offer does not extend to such situations that a person can take that free offer and compile it with other free offers and sell as a "package" or as a "service".
In similar scenarios;
An individual who acquires possession of a woodworking plan (document), whether given freely or made with payment (a sales's transaction), does not outright own that document.
The copyright holder (designer of the plan) is only making available to the individual a copy of the document for personal use.
The individual who takes possession of a copy of the document, does so for the purposes of building a woodworking project. Generally a person can build a project using the document's instructions and their permission of use of that document stops there. There are some designers who allow an individual to build several projects and sell them at craft fairs. We are working towards each designer to submit their copyright permissions. When available, those permissions will be made public on the product pages of our online store.
If an individual wishes to build projects for sale (for example, at a craft show), permission should allways FIRST be obtained from the designer.
Irregardless of how a person obtains a copy of the document, whether by payment, or for free, the customer is NOT allowed:
to sell copies of that document, or,
include a copy of that document in a product or service they are selling, or,
make available or distribute by any means a copy, online or offline, in any format, under any type of media file transmission, a free copy version of that document.
November 18, 2008 - (revised February 27, 2011) We are NOT affiliated in any way with sellers of CDs or DVDs featuring PDFs and web site links to hundreds or thousands of projects. There are some people online that are selling cd's and dvd's (or any other media) that contain free woodworking plans and links to woodworking plans. The content contained within the product(s) that these people are selling is copyright protected and they are most likely selling without permission from the respective copyright holders. Copyright holders range from individuals, company's, corporate entities, educational and government institutions.
Some of the content on these products will direct you to plans on our web sites, and most of the plans are pay plans like those found in our online store. People who bought the cd's are expecting free plans so when they land at our web pages and see the plans cost money, they are mad. They express their anger onto us because they think we are the company who sold them the cd/dvd. They assume we are the seller because the web site links send them to our site. So we have to place this disclaimer on our Copyright Policy page to prevent "guilty by association" which many people automatically assume.
We simply do not have the financial resources to go after the hundreds of people who are selling these cds/dvds and torrents online. So we feel the best way to confront this issue is to educate the public using a highly visible link to this web page.
If you bought a cd or dvd that promotes "hundreds" or "thousands" of plans, then you most likely bought one of the products we are discussing here. You basically paid for information that is freely available online. This web site and our network of web sites, like
www.FreeWoodworkingPlan.com lists much of the information and more, that is found on those cd's. The difference is we work with the web sites who offer the free information by promoting their information free of charge. We do not, and never will, charge for accessing this free information. And just as important, we maintain and update our information daily.
There is not one company we know of, and we know a lot of people and companies in the industry, that offers such a product like a cd or download with hundreds (or thousands) of free woodworking plans. Its simply not cost effective.
In all the cases we have seen so far, people who are selling cd's or dvd's featuring all sorts of free information have this typical format: the product contains html pages or PDF's of free plans they found online, and a list of links where to find other plans (free or fee). We know one in particular that lists thousands of our web site links. So, if you get the product and see some of the links that point to
www.WoodworkersWorkshop.com then you bought a product that is first, illegal, and second, bought from a person who is infringing on copyright. We have not authorized any individual or company to issue a product that contains our links.
As we recommend to anybody who may have fallen victim to purchasing such product, we recommend you report this person to your Better Business Bureau, local authorities, your credit card company. And while on the phone with your credit card company, ask for your money back. If you bought it on:
eBay, file a report with eBay about the seller selling a product that infringes on copyright.
the PayPal.com's payment service, file a claim with PayPal.
Google Checkout, file a claim with Google.
the Clickbank system, you could try to file a claim however that company is not known for being very helpfull in such matters.
Most of these services offer links to reporting fraudulent activity through the use of their credit card processing systems. Its the only way to stop copyright infringement.
If you have knowingly purchased these products, or promote the sale of these products, you are contributing to the problem.
One final note, tell all your friends and contacts to avoid such products online
