This is all over the online craft world, and now it has hit the mainstream press.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle3926859.ece

Yes, it's called copyright.

There's an "online craft world"?

Heh.

Aww, I've never seen a knitted Ood before! It's really cute

I think the BBC would be hard pressed to win a case on that if it went to court.

....you should see the Ood balaclava - it's practically life-like!

Probably not - copyright is very high profile at the moment and very sensitive. They could win a case and are probably confident of doing so.

Given that people were selling completed ones on e-bay I don't think they would.

I do. The cease and desist was slapped on the people freely publishing a non-profit 'fan' knitting pattern to make at home. If the BBC took the people to court who were selling the stuff on ebay, they might well get a win (that's still a might, but a damn good chance), but the knitting pattern folk? I'd be staggered if they did.

Of course it's all hypothetical now, anyway.

The Adipose is clearly crocheted, not knitted. The Ood is knitted.

Miserable barstewards, ffs!

Yea, I agree it's disgusting for the corporation to treat fans of their shows this way.

The knitted Ood is just adorable. Such a shame that idiots weith nothing but money on their mind (and by that I mean the ebayers) have ruined it for these creative fans.

What exactly is disgusting about it, copyrighted material is being sold for profit on ebay, which is illegal, as far as Im aware the BBC have stopped these and contacted the owner of the pattern to have her remove it from her site.

Sounds like comman copyright practice to me, nothing to do with treating fans badly.

If it were a Homer Simpson doll do you not think Fox would do the same.

If it were something you created and someone else was making profit from your work would you not want something done about it, even having the original source removed.

Belive it or not there is a functioning world with copyright laws, that are there for a reason, that exists beyond our computers.

The legal issue is with those selling it for profit. The BBC have done themselves far more damage than good with this cease and desist.

It's not this woman's fault that people are making her patterns up and selling them on ebay. Go after them if you're so worried about the pissy bits of money that you wouldn't even be making because you DON'T SELL KNITTED MONSTERS FOR A LIVING. This is like making someone take down a recipe for Doctor Who cake.

It's grass roots fan promotion, which is the NUMBER ONE promotional tool that keeps this sort of programme afloat.

At least BBC are only idiots. Check out Warner /DC:

A guy at 'Say It Backwards', a comics blog, asked some respected comics artists to donate some original artwork so that he could auction them to raise some money to GIVE TO A CHILDREN'S CANCER CHARITY AFTER THEY HAD HELPED HIS NEPHEW.

Warner DC decided that this was wrong because they needed to PROTECT THEIR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (we're talking about SUPERMAN here - that guy who saves the world and does the right thing and is good and that) and have cancelled the auctions. The guy who runs the blog is being cool about it, giving them the benefit of the doubt and saying that a suit in the legal department may have acted heavy-handedly but Jesus Christ you have to think that copyright laws were invented to protect artists from losing income that they wouldn't get without that protection and were mainly put into place to protect artists from corporations. Those rights weren't fought for so that the BBC can tell Doctor Who fans not to put knitting patterns for monsters on the internet or screw over some children's charity for a few hundred dollars.

Jesus... and people wonder why fans lose patience with these companies.

The one in that picture is, but Mazzmatazz's pattern is a knitted one. Don't know why they didn't have it there. The print version of the article has a picture of both the knitted and crocheted ones.

So why don't they crack down on the company selling hand knitted Dr Who scarves?

That's just the point though. They are threatening to take action against someone who created a pattern and put it on her site for people to use for their own personal use, for free. She never made a penny.

But they are not going after the person who started selling them on ebay!

Just a thought but who then knitted the adipose RTD so proudly displayed in the DWC after Partners in Crime....will he be receiving a cease and desist also?

The BBC being heavy-handed and bullying as usual.
Way to go - stifling fan creativity!

So are the BBC planning on selling knitted Adipose then?

She should've told them to f*** off!

I think it's high time that the BBC got its lawyers to send their heavies around to timesonline.co.uk and shove a C&D letter up the receptionist's a**e.

It's disgraceful the way this online 'newspaper' is flagrantly showing pictures both of woolen replicas and the real life Adipose and Ood. Creatures that have been designed, created and become friends with the Doctor using my TV Licence money.

The world's gone mad!

Take a few seconds to think about it then the answer will come to you.

It does seem like they're clearing the way purely for their own moneymaking Ood and Adipose cuddlies for Christmas 08. I'm sure if this had happened during the wilderness years, they wouldn't have given a rat's ass.

the people making the things were flogging them on ebay. I can see why the BBC are stopping this....its like me making figurines of mickey mouse and flogging them. wrong and copyright infringement.

Nobody is arguing that the people flogging them on ebay shouldn't be stopped form doing so. It's the fan who made the knitting pattern (who has done nothing to make money out of anything) getting slapped with a cease and desist order that people have a problem with.