How much control do creators have? Culture Japan's Free Patterns

In my opinion, it's entirely up to the creator to decide under what circumstances their patterns can be used and the user should respect that.
I mean, if I put something up and state it's available for persnoal use only (just as an example) and someone downloads it, they have entered an agreement by doing so. It doesn't matter if the person downloading it disagree with that and want to use it in some other way, they still have downloaded something that was available under certain conditions and thus have agreed to honor that.
The way I see it, if the owner is known to have strong opinions on people breaching the agreement, that just adds an additional level of disrespect if not honored.

In reality, of course, there is no real way to control what people does with the stuff once they have it, but that is no different from people stealing photos or anything else. Just because you can doesn't mean it's a legal, moral or acceptable thing to do. If it's not yours, it's not your decision.
Nor is it the decision of other pattern makers, they all have the freedom to write their own terms of use and that, obviously, only apply to their own products.

Best thing to do if you want to use someone elses patterns for a tutorial is to ask first and respect the answer. If you get a no, why not put in the effort to make your own pattern? Or pay someone to make one for you? Or ask around for a free pattern made by someone who is ok with it being used? There are many good options.

 

Indeed, pretty sure you’re right there’s nothing in any of the Volks pattern books about forbidding you to use them for other dolls, which makes sense given how long the sizes available from Volks were used as a benchmark for other resins and so there was/is cross compatibility in clothing.

I get the impression that a point of potential disagreement when it comes to patterns is whether the creator is alright with the output being sold — professional companies’ bought-and-sold patterns like McCall’s generally come with the expectation that the buyer can do so, free patterns can be a bit less clear, often the creator will state explicitly that it’s alright to sell the output as long as you credit their pattern, or please only use it for personal items and don’t sell it et cetera. But permission restrictions regarding *what dolls you put them on*…that’s just strange. The nature of a pattern means that what makes sense to do is give advice regarding the measurements of the doll it was made for, then it’ll be up to the crafter to then decide if they want to risk it, try adjusting the pattern, et cetera. It’s incredibly strange to imply people aren’t allowed to put them on certain dolls. That would be like if a free cosplay pattern threw in “I only made this seifuku pattern for Usagi’s school uniform from Sailor Moon, don’t use it for other shows”. I have never seen anything like it. I respect artists’ rights, but if I buy an art print and they say “don’t hang it on the same wall as another artist’s work” or the aforementioned cosplay pattern situation, that is passing beyond the boundary of having control over the use of your own work and into trying to dictate how people display and wear their own possessions, or, in the case of patterns, their own creations. Just as I don’t know if most people would consider a BJD company that said never to hybridize their dolls to be within the normal purview of artists’ rights that we as pro-artist owners respect.

I can’t imagine how much vitriol and discussion of elitism would result if established resin companies put a looong notice online about how you can’t buy their pattern or clothing for other dolls— much less started cancelling orders if they found out you wanted to put it on another line, which is what happens if Smartdoll finds out (for those who don’t know this happened, owner contacted a buyers asking what doll an order was for, and when they confirmed that it was a Volks doll he cancelled the order.) Another time this behaviour was discussed, people were saying “well we don’t know for sure that the owners of other BJD companies are nice/polite people, they might be just as temperamental or rude and you just don’t know”, but…what we do know is they don’t have business practices like that, and in and of itself that’s definitive proof they behave more professionally, which is the whole issue, not being nice in their personal lives.

I think you should continue to make your girls clothing with the pattern, but yes, you may be taking a small risk of getting banned from buying Culture Japan products by sharing a full tut online. I don’t think the Culture Japan owner lurks DoA (other forums and Instagram for sure, though), but it’s your call, and I understand wanting to play it safe.

 

Considering the (one-sided) grudge that the creator has against Volks and Dollfie Dreams in particular (he discontinued the Milk skin tone because people were making DD hybrids) I’m almost certain it’s just an expression of that rivalry and not something he can really “prosecute” or pursue beyond throwing a fit and banning you from purchasing items.

There’s tons of people on Etsy selling clothes for both DD and Smartdoll and judging from the review photos the fit for both is basically the same.

 

From reading the text provided, I think the issue is that it is just not clear what they mean. Everything is steeped in so many "in-jokes" and passive aggression that it is unclear what is really meant by anything. By "use these patterns to make Smart Doll apparel" it could mean (and what I would assume it means if this were any other company) that any clothing you make has to be identified as such (given credit) but can be used however you want. You can "read between the lines" and apply your knowledge about the owner's distaste for particular other companies and what other buyers have been banned for doing, but nothing in the actual text really says anything about prohibiting users from letting other dolls wear the clothes.

I generally agree that you should follow any rules that a creator specifies when using their work, but with such a strict and unusual rule it has to be clearly stated with no room for interpretation if they expect people to follow it.

From the reputation of this company, however, I would guess that keeping people on their toes with intentionally vague language is likely the point. Maybe that's just the "entitlement" speaking though

 

The debatable ethics of the SmartDoll creator aside… (I don’t want to start anything here, just acknowledging that there has been drama coming from many sides)

SmartDoll clothes (more specifically, their pants) are *incredibly* tight. Like, “struggle with them for several minutes to shimmy those skinny jeans up their legs” kind of tight. So even if you did want to put them on another doll, you’re going to have a tough time if any of their measurements are even a little bit different from SmartDoll. I’m assuming this is by design, so that other (vinyl) dolls would be physically unable to wear SmartDoll clothes.

Seconding other posts in the topic, the language used on the SmartDoll site & on other official platforms is often times sarcastic, in a joking manner, and sometimes just flat out talks about things that are untrue (like often referencing the dolls as being alive in some sort of way) Since there is no distinction between what is serious text and what is a joke/falsehood within the context of the official SmD text, I would argue that it is perfectly fine to use the SmartDoll patterns to make clothing that will be worn by non-SmartDoll dolls with how the current t&c is written.

 

Having published several doll clothes pattern books my rules have been- Don't put pictures of the actual patterns on line (so people can't just save, print, and use them for free) and you're welcome to make and sell things from the book as long as it's not like a big mass produced factory thing. Nowhere in any of my books have I said not to use them for any other dolls. In fact, my first book was a 'one size fits many' to try and appeal to a wider audience.

The only slight control I had was asking the print on demand publisher to look at a particularly snarky review, it was a case of sour grapes, and deciding when I wanted some of the books taken down.

And always remember, if you aren't sure a pattern will fit, like tight pants, make a muslin version to try first.

 

IMHO Authors of creative content have control over things that are backed by law, like forbidding to use one of your patters commercially, that's backed by copyright law.
Authors do not have control over anything that is not backed up by law, like forbidding the use of clothes made from a pattern on another doll than you intended.

Can I sell a knitting pattern and demand you do not sell sweaters made from it in your shop? Yes, although I'd have a hell of a time stopping you from it.
Can I sell you a knitting pattern and demand you only wear the sweater if you're blond, or when you go to Catholic church on Sundays? No, of course not.

 

When it comes to human-scale patterns, alterations for personal use (even pretty major ones that may require completely taking the pattern apart and redrawing it-) are solidly under the heading of a doctrine called Fair Use. No matter what the pattern's original creator may personally think about, say, their fitted men's tuxedo tails coat pattern being altered to fit a curvy female figure... if you bought (or otherwise legally acquired-) the pattern and you're altering it for your own use, they really can't legally tell you "OMGNoYou!" about it.

I seriously doubt that those very same Fair Use provisions *wouldn't* apply to doll patterns as well... So, that particular creator can certainly ASK that you not use the patterns to dress a rival's dolls, but he doesn't really have any legal basis to forbid you from doing exactly that as long as the alterations are only for your own use.

 

That's utter ridiculous you can't stop people of using the pattern to make whatever they want for their personal use you can restrict it to personal use and deny license of selling goods made with this pattern or use the trademark even for charity but if someone wants to take the pattern resize it and make something for a barbie they can . If a creator thinks that this makes no sense economically can charge more for the pattern or sell only clothes and no patterns, or sent the pattern only to people who have already purchased a doll, but this type of behaviour reminds me a Tommy Hilfiger comment on minorities though it's not racist and as serious an issue as hilfiger's was, but doll brand elitist still it leaves a bad sentiment.

 

I make and share bjd patterns, too!

Patterns are distributed with a user license which grants the user certain limited rights. For example, free patterns are generally for personal use (make as many as you want for yourself), and are free because the creator is offering them out of kindness or as promotion for their other paid works. Low-cost purchased patterns (like the ones you get on etsy or at the fabric store) are also generally licensed for personal use. Patterns sold for commercial use are priced much higher as the user is using those patterns for the purposes of making and selling many items for profit, and so the license will cost more. By purchasing or downloading a free pattern, you are entering into a contract and agreeing to the terms of use outlined by the creator. While only big companies with a corporate lawyer tend to enforce the contract, it's just ethical to comply.

I both know and encourage people to be creative with the patterns I offer, because that's the fun of sewing! People can absolutely resize or alter the patterns to fit their dolls, but not everyone knows how to do that properly (especially if they're new to sewing). I do specify that certain patterns are intended for certain dolls because I want the user to know what to expect before making it (doll size, if it's for a uniquely proportioned body, etc); but I'm not restricting which dolls can use the items by saying that. I like to put up disclaimers like that on my patterns, otherwise I end up getting nasty ranting messages from people who are ~outraged and disgusted~ that my free chubby MSD pattern didn't fit their slim MiniFee.

The SmD pattern contract is pretty open, allows commercial use, and the "not for other dolls" bit is vaguely worded, and could be interpreted as "not intended for other dolls and so the items may not fit other dolls well". I don't think it wouldn't hold up in court for anything because the wording so vague and informal.