I know what you mean, but it is a bit different. it has been explained here before.

I searched and this page came up where this has been addressed before...

I hope this helps

I think sharing is not the right word. In fact you copy the design. And that's not allowed with books either.

It is legal to copy a percentage of a book - but that wouldn't work for a design would it? ;-)

Technically, you are not supposed to share books either, you're supposed to buy them yourself, but who knows this???? LOLOL!!!

it is just as easy to send whoever to were you got the free design, not stick your neck out. I know sometimes I miss letters and I consider that is a way for the digitizer to make some money on the free sets they give out. usually they do not charge large amounts for the ones you missed.

I've had animated and heated discussions with DHDon on this very subject.

I look at it this way......

a. You buy a licence to use a digitised design. That original digitised design is not yours and therefore you shouldn't claim it as your own to give away, sell or otherwise dispose of as though it was yours - that's stealing. You may copy that design by stitching it out and gifting or selling the item but many digitisers still like to have their work acknowledged, as in 'Designed by ....' or 'Digitised by ....'.

b. You buy a book to read a story. The original text is not yours and therefore you shouldn't claim it as your own to use in a work of your own - that's plagiarism. You may copy 10% of a book for personal use but you should still state ownership of the text to the original writer and author of the book if any part of it is used as quoted passages, as in 'Written by...' or 'From..(book).. by.. (author).

In both cases, either to share a design or share a book with someone else is halving the income, of that particular design or book, of the owners of the original works.

We are constantly reminded, especially in the craft magazine arena, not to share copied patterns. People constantly disregard that advice.

I liken the free designs available to us to the free books available to us in public libraries. You may borrow a book from a library and you may not give it away or sell it.
If someone wants to read that same book that person will have to either get a free copy from the library or buy a copy from a shop.

It's a difficult area to police and I think it comes down to how ethical and honest people are and I don't think there's a lot of difference, if any, between sharing a digitised design and sharing a book.

This is how I think about it anyway.
AlmaG.

You can sell or giveaway an ORIGINAL book, but can't duplicate it (COPYright) You can also sell or giveaway an ORIGINAL CD with designs, but you better not have them downloaded (COPIED) to your computer. I read this on EBAY, after seeing that someone was trying to sell copies of their "embroidery files" from their C-Drive. Unbelievable!

In sharing a book, you both don't have access to the book at the same time. If you share a design (send it to someone else) you both have access to the same design at the same time. When sharing a design, you are taking $ away from the original digitizer. We have to remember that the digitizer is an artist. They either have to draw the original design or pay some one for it, then put their interpertation (sp) on it. We also cannot copy a painting.

Disney and a lot of other digitizers also say that we can't put their designs on items for sale for the same reason.

Thank you all for your most interesting comments.