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DMCA Vs. The Sewing Underground

Roundeye writes "So the folks at monsterpatterns.com dumpster-dive to get envelopes containing discontinued sewing patterns and sell the envelopes via their website. The sewing pattern company McCall invoked the DMCA to get the site shut down. Monsterpatterns is now suing to protect their 'fair use rights' to advertise and sell the discarded patterns. You might recall that this isn't the first time the sewing industry has cracked down on bootlegging grandmas and their suppliers."

16 of 545 comments (clear)

  1. I knew it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn midwestern grandmothers with their sewing circles. Up to no good! Oughta lock the whole lot of them up. Whole generation's going to hell in a handbasket.

  2. Bootleg grandmas? by gpinzone · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, those Taiwanese can bootleg anything!

  3. This just goes to show... by johnthorensen · · Score: 5, Funny

    That if you put "DMCA" in it, you automatically have something that will get posted by the editors of Slashdot.

    -JT

  4. Re:The DMCA by schussat · · Score: 3, Funny
    Sew, it's come to this, has it?

    I see a real pattern of misuse of the DMCA.

    -schussat

    --
    The hour of noon has passed. Let us go and get some Kentucky Fried Chicken.
  5. Re:Other Reasons for Decline by quandrum · · Score: 3, Funny

    1.) They can't count past one, and therefore are confused by the instructions...

  6. Re:The DMCA by JabberWokky · · Score: 5, Funny
    I think this thread has come to an end. We can stop needling McCalls over this issue. I certainly pin my hope on it, else we destroy the fabric of Slashdot's community.

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  7. Re:DMCA confusion? by Frymaster · · Score: 4, Funny
    it's the (wait for it)...

    dumpster millenium contorl act

    good god, i slay me.

  8. Wow Granny your 1337!! by Angus+McNitt · · Score: 3, Funny

    All this time I have pictured my Grandmom sitting home and sewing stuff for her grandkids, a fine upstanind citizen.

    Now, sitting here wearing a shirt she made me, I wonder: is this covered under fair use or are they going to take the shirt off my back? How does one check if a garment was reproduced from a licensed patern? You have to wonder how many copywritable permutations of the shirt there really are.

    Maybe this is why Granny wanted Kazaa loaded and that 120GB hard drive for Mother's Day?

    --
    "To Do Is To Be" - Socrates, "To Be Is To Do" - Sartre, "Do Be Do Be Do" - Sinatra
  9. Re:sad, really by Blondie-Wan · · Score: 4, Funny
    Oh, I don't know; I doubt Ashcroft would really do anything that would keep kids from wearing images of elephants - heck, a few more years and it might be expected of them. Now, wearing hand-sewn donkeys might get third-graders designated as terrorists...

    ;)

  10. LEAVE MY GRAMAMA ALONE B*#@&! by rulethirty · · Score: 5, Funny

    If she can find it cheaper on MonsterPatterns.com then maybe she can afford to give me two shiney quarters for cleaning out her gutters!

  11. Re:Other Reasons for Decline by Gorm+the+DBA · · Score: 4, Funny
    So now this brings up several obvious challenges:
    • Who'll be the first to get Mom's Singer to boot Linux?
    • Who'll write the first sewing machine virus, which copies the contents of the pattern directory and sends it to a IRC bot in #SeW1NGH@CkOrZ
    • WHo'll be the first overclocker to break the 200Msz barrier (200 Million Stiches)? And will the machine be water cooled?
    • And, of course, the mandatory case mods so the lady next door's sewing machine is also her fishtank
    Hmm...this could almost be cooler than I thought at first...
  12. Re:How is this piracy? by stanmann · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would assume he used his digits(fingers) to open the lid.

    --
    Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
  13. Maybe McCall should take a lesson from Madonna... by mykepredko · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just can't wait for McCall to take their lead from Madonna and put on the Internet some of their own "designs" to help thwart pirating of their intellectual property.

    The whole pattern pirating industry would be shut down in an instant as soon as some grandmother that downloaded a pattern called "Playful Kittens" and spent hours stitching it out, ended up with a pillow that says "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"

    myke

  14. So does this mean... by OrangeGoo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can I sue everybody everywhere who has ever made a profit just by claiming that I made the product originally, but threw it away? I've never really thought about it; I just kinda assumed that I was giving up rights to my trash. I'm generally more than happy to turn it over to the nice men who come twice a week to take it away. Are those sons-of-bitches getting rich at my expense?!

    I'm suing!

  15. And will probably be registered by Buffalo Bill by The+Jonas · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wish their investigation would have played out something more like this:

    CLARICE Good afternoon... I wonder if you could help me. I'm looking for MacCall, the sewing pattern company?

    MR. GUMB They don't live here anymore.

    Mr. Gumb starts to close the door, only to have Clarice push back against it, politely but firmly. She holds up her ID.

    CLARICE Excuse me, but I really do need to talk to you. This was MacCall sewing pattern company. Did you know them?

    MR. GUMB Just briefly. What's the problem, Officer?

    Clarice and Mr. Gumb, still eyeing each other through the door crack...

    CLARICE I'm investigating a violation of the DMCA. Who are you, please?

    MR. GUMB Jack Gordon.

    CLARICE Mr. Gordon, do you know anything about MacCall dumpster-diving for sewing patterns?

    MR. GUMB No. Wait... Was it those stupid little drawings made up of broken lines? I may have seen them, I'm not sure...

    Mr. Gumb glances briefly over his shoulder, towards his kitchen, then turns back to Clarice with a smile.

    MR. GUMB MacCall had some employees, maybe they could help you. I have some cards somewhere. Do you mind stepping inside, while I looks for it?

    CLARICE Thanks.

    Moments later...
    CLARICE - looking up from the bottom of a hole in the basement.

    MR. GUMB It rubs the DMCA on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it is told.

  16. Boycott McAll's by BMonger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yesterday I was at my grandma's and she was downloading some patterns off the internet... I asked her, "Grandma, isn't that illegal?" She shrugged stating, "I wouldn't have bought it anyway. Plus I don't like those top 40 patterns of old ladies with pineapples on their heads. When I stitch I like to stitch indie stuff anyhow which I can't find at the local needlpoint store." I thought it made sense but somehow... I dunno... it seems like I've seen that argument elsewhere... hmmmm...

    Anyhow to all you grandma's that read slashdot out there... don't buy McAll's patterns! Buy from your local neighborhood needlepoint store!