Inquiry

[bladespark]

I ask this of the all-knowing internet. Has anybody, anywhere, under any circumstances, heard of a commercial toy manufacturer that has open source toy designs? That is, designs that are free to be copied by anybody, and sold for profit by those who have copied the designs? Now I do know that it's kosher to copy and sell designs when you've bought al pattern, though the legalities of that are a bit weird at times. But you've paid for the pattern, you get to reproduce it, as intended, and can then sell the thing you made if you wish. But this isn't like that, this is just... open source designs.

Anybody know of such a thing? I'm attempting to research the specifics, but the person I need to speak with is out of town for a day or two, so I thought I'd ask you folks.

Comments

[westly-roanoke.livejournal.com]

Uh...

No.

[draggo.livejournal.com]

I have seen an open source beer recipie but that is it (other than open source software).

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I am among other things a doll maker and this pattern thing came up a while back when two individuals on a list had an arguement about a couple of doll patterns that one had created and the other had made doll clothes from with a couple of slight differences and sold. The pattern maker had a limit of making 10 per year until you made back your money from the pattern(s) and then you couldn't sell them anymore. The other doll maker cried foul which brought out of our group someone who works for Mattel in the legal department of all things.

The short answer is no. Commercial toy designers are very territorial about their designs. Remember Bratz suing (and winning) against Barbie for a set of dolls that looked liked the Bratz dolls. The industry is very quick to file with the patent office.

The only avaible open source for toys are toys that have been made for decades and are not under patent. There are some types of toys that are fair game since they existed before the toy companies. ie Lego is a brand name but those type of building blocks are made by other companies. Meglo for example.

What kind of toy type are you looking at?

[(Anonymous)]

A stuffed lion, specifically this one: http://www.stuffedark.com/lionotking.htm

I was given that exact lion by somebody who claimed to have made it himself. When I linked him to that store and called him on it, he then claimed to have made it by copying that pattern. I then called him on it again, saying that it was a violation of copyright to copy somebody else's design like that, to which he responded by saying that this particular lion was a "open copyright" and was free to anybody. I am currently trying to contact the manufacturer of that lion to confirm or deny this, but I find his claim that the design is open source to be highly suspicious.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Ummmm...Full of it comes to mind. I have seen a pattern close to that in a great pattern book called Animals A to Z that is out of print but the lion is not standing but lying down. Also the ruff of the lion is very specifically dyed it looks. It is machine stitched? Industrial stitch not standard stitch? I only know of two stuff animal makers that I know that have such a machine.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Oops... that was me, lj keeps logging me out for some reason.