A while back, I wrote an article about Great American Scroll Saw Patterns and their amazing deal. Although I've seen the price fluctuate a little, at the time of this writing you can get more than 1,800 high quality patterns for $27.
During their sales pitch, they continually emphasize this as a great business opportunity, as you are purchasing lifetime resale and reprint rights. This is a bit misleading, however. After you purchase the collection, you'll find a document called Read Me First which lists the End User License Agreement. While it's true you can sell these patterns, the method of sale is very limited. I've posted an excerpt from the EULA below:
. . . Licensor hereby grants to you and you accept a non-exclusive license to use the Patterns only as authorized in this license agreement. The Patterns may only be printed off of your home computer to either create woodworking projects from ( these downloadable patterns or these pattrns on a cd ) and/or to print the patterns off on your home computer to sell the print version to other individuals for their personal use. Any print copies sold to third parties must clearly show Licenser's copyright notice and contain a statement that the pattern is for personal use only. Licensor does not give you permission to sell these Patterns in any other form or manner including, but not limited to, off the Internet. You may not modify, transmit, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit any of the contents, in whole or in part for resale purposes other than as authorized above.
Basically it boils down to this. You can print the pattern out on your own printer and sell the printed pattern to an individual (The Patterns may only be printed off of your home computer . . . to sell the print version to other individuals for their personal use.). You are not allowed to sell the patterns online (Licensor does not give you permission to sell these Patterns . . . off the Internet), nor advertise the sale of these patterns (display. . .for resale purposes).
So I guess you can sell a pattern to your buddy at your scroll saw club meeting for a buck or two, but forget the dreams of opening up your own online pattern store. I know of one person who has already gotten into trouble for this (you can read his story here) and I know of several others who were about to take on this business opportunity. So I thought I'd throw out a little forewarning in hopes to save you from hungry lawyers and sleepless nights.
With that said, if you are only looking to add a great collection to your own library, this still looks like an amazing deal. The patterns are very high quality with a great variety of projects. They even have several samples on their website to whet your appetite. Great collection; great price. But it certainly isn't the business opportunity you think it might be.
1 comment:
I too was taken by this man. I have purchased many a pattern from this co. and have the finished projects on my blog. Before buying them I even wrote them and asked if this indeed was a real deal. I was assured that I was purchasing resale rights to these patterns. After purchasing and reading the "read me" text I could not believe what I was reading. I have e-mailed them several times asking them to be more specific, as I did not want to do anything illegal. I never did receive a reply.I am so thankful for your up date on this, I guess I knew in my heart I had been deceived. I was never out to sell these to make money, I only wanted to sell them for enough money to keep myself in scroll saw blades, etc.I personally feel that they misrepresented themselves and I will never buy a pattern, a magazine, and I will cancel all their catalogs I receive from them. I have not a decent thought about this company and I feel they have done a terrible thing to scroller community. I know of several people that bought these. There is no excuse for what they did. Yes ,I guess it was my fault for purchasing, I just never believed it could happen in the woodworking community. Yes it is a good deal for your personal collection of patterns, but I sure as hell hope NOBODY ever purchases from them again.
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