Some of you may know that I am a professional member of the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America). It's a wonderful organization that publishes Crochet! magazine and is "a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the art of crochet." Recently, I've been seeing a lot of email group traffic on how various websites, many of which originate in Russia and China, that have members who sell crochet patterns in violation of the designers' copyright. One CGOA member found a black & white photo of her pattern (to make it look vintage) on Yardsellr, illegally being sold. Another foreign site is offering patterns for free, though that's not the intention of the designers!
All I ask is that, if you find a pattern you like on a consolidator's website, please do a little more searching to see if you can figure out who the designer really is and if there is a way to buy the pattern directly from her or him. There are ways to contact sites and report copyrighted materials for removal (sites who honestly didn't realize their members were using their services unlawfully will usually act quickly to remove the copyrighted materials), but I think the best way to put these people out of business is to not buy from them!
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