Question about Free Download

Szeh

I noticed about a week ago that there's a new section - Free Download. The description says
"There is no basic fee for downloading in this section.
Any threads with copyright disputes will be moved to this section.
Please download as soon as possible as we may move it to pinebk.com".
My questions are:
1. What do you mean by "basic fee for downloading"? When I download patterns from there, I still need to pay. Unless I'm missunderstaning? :(
2. What copyright disputes? I mean, it never seemed to be a problem before, even if the creator noticed that their pattern is available on PinDIY :o  So what changed? Also if there are copyright disputes, why do they only concern some of the patterns (for example we have creator X. There are several patterns of theirs available here: Y, Z, Q, etc. The patterns moved to Free Download are Y and Z, but not Q)?
3. From what I understand pinebk.com is a site for talking, being in a community and farming Pins. Will it change and will there be patterns available as well? So even if I don't download a pattern now and it gets deleted from here, will I still be able to download it from Pinebk.com at a later date?

Sorry for all the questions :L

BluBrd

I dont' hav ealnwserw but I'm also curious.

About your 1st question, the basic download fee disappears for the patterns in that section (other patterns you have to pay 30 Pin to download, which add up to the price you pay for the pattern). The pattern price remains unchanged.
Say, if a pattern is priced 100 Pin by the person that uploaded it, you will have to pay a total of 130 Pin to get it in any section, except the "Free pattern" section where you would only pay 100 Pin.

About the 2nd question, I only have a hypothesis, which is that Pinbk would be some sort of backup for this forum in case it gets taken down because of copyright issues.

About the 3rd, I have no idea though.

TestKnit

I see BluBrd already gave a very thorough answer with your first question! As for the other two, I think that's right, Pinebk might change to be a little back up of pinDIY if creators decide to move against it. Having said that, I doubt it, because pattern laws and design laws regarding copyright vary a lot depending on the country, and at least those in the USA don't support what artists seem to think they do.

kkoma75

Any moderator..?

BluBrd

TestKnit replied at 2025-9-18 17:11
I see BluBrd already gave a very thorough answer with your first question! As for the other two, I t ...

Definitely, US designers sometimes seem to think that US law applies everywhere in the world, though it is absolutely not the case.



For instance, US law allow designers to restrict their patterns to domestic use only (i.e. forbid their customers to sell the products they create with their pattern). In the US this is restricted by law.
Anywhere else in the world, you can just do whatever you please with your creations, even crediting the original designer is optional - while it is the right thing to do morally and to support creation allover, it is not mandatory.
US laws are sometimes a bit bonkers when it comes to copyright.

TestKnit

BluBrd replied at 2025-9-22 11:22
Definitely, US designers sometimes seem to think that US law applies everywhere in the world, thou ...

Yes! And even then, it would have to hold in a small claims court. This is especially true for items of clothing or other 'useful' items, that have much more loose laws around copyright, because otherwise we would be able to claim all tshirts are infringing copyright on each other. IT IS also legal to reverse engineer something!

diystuff

I was confused about this this morning when I paid 300 for a chart from that section, but I thought it must be the site 30pin fee.  It's daft calling it free download though to be honest.  Should say No site fee section or something.

Arlandria83

Thanks for all the helpful replies!  I had this question too!