Custom web site design directory: WebmastersLookup

By: Kris Driessen
The subject of copyright as it applies to handmade items is a subject dear to the heart of someone who is making a living through their creative efforts. A copyright protects an authors income by giving them the exclusive right to control the reproduction of that work, whether they have created patterns, music, art, books or any other specialized design. For work to be copyrighted, it must be significantly original. An item or a technique so common it can be considered in the public domain cannot be copyrighted. It must be something unique and distinctive already in existence. Facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted, but the way they are expressed can.