Alan Dart

All the patterns for these and other licensed characters are now long out of print and the licenses to sell them have expired. A licensed character is one that appears in other mediums, such as books, films, or television programmes and, although I own the copyright to the pattern instructions, a very expensive license would need to be purchased for each collection of characters before they could be reissued. In the past, all the licenses were bought by the companies that printed the leaflets, and because the license fees are so high I can’t afford to buy new licenses in order to reissue the patterns myself, so this is why they are no longer available. You may be able to find some original patterns offered for sale, but photocopies, CDs and downloads of these designs are illegal because they not only infringe my copyright but also that of the creators of the characters and/or their agents, and I’d be most grateful if you would report these sellers to me. I can very easily, and swiftly, have any infringing items that are listed on eBay removed since I am registered with their Verified Rights Ownership programme.