@ JMCDA and Lori S :
I'm very interested in this issue of copyright when it comes to creating items to sell on Etsy, etc., and after reading both of your posts above, I was curious if either of you have documentation for your statements regarding copyright (i.e. do your statements reflect what you've read about copyright law, and if so, could you direct me to a link where I could read up on that info), or were your statements based on personal opinion/personal experience?
In my own personal experience, I've contacted a pattern designer in the past, asking for permission to sell items made from her patterns on Etsy, and I was told 'Yes, and thanks for asking. Just remember to credit me as the actual designer of the pattern when mentioning it on Etsy, and I'm fine with that' (paraphrase =) However, I'm still looking for a good resource for researching copyright law, so that I can make sure that whatever I do is on the 'up and up', and if either of you could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. Thanks!