Daleks are not soft and fuzzy the BBC goes mad

It is understandable that the estate of Terry Nation and the BBC would be busy asserting their copyright ownership of the Dalek name, and likeness of the critters in Doctor Who, what is sad is that a popular web site that featured hand made crafted soft fuzzy needlepoint and crochet reproductions of Doctor Who Characters would be pulled off the Internet.

The story centers around the web site, Mazzmatazz, who is a knitting, needlepoint, crochet, photography kind of person. Mazz see’s something on Doctor who and comes up with a great drawing, then eventually a pattern like the Ood below.

Technollama has a great summary:

Enter Mazzmatazz. Mazz has a website featuring photography and knitting. In a display of amazing knitting talent (and dare I say, too much time on their hands), Mazz has been making knitting designs of Doctor Who characters; see for example, the excellent Ood. Under normal circumstances, a fan who makes knitting designs of loved TV characters should not be the concern of copyright owners. However, these are not normal circumstances. The new Doctor Who series is merchandising gold, so much so that the BBC has been climbing up the world merchandise chart. Source: Technollama

Then steps in the open rights group, then on BoingBoing which is going to get a lot of attention.

The problem is that KCTS here in Seattle is gearing up towards its Semi-Annual Doctor Who marathon giving drive, in which my wife used the patterns from Mazz so that they could be donated during the marathon.

My wife has made two Doctor Who scarves that went for 800 dollars each, which is a significant contribution to a public television station. This time, she has been busy making more hand crafted thanks Mazz Daleks to donate.

Daleks are not normally made of silk, with a rice base to keep it steady. Hand crafted items like the scarf, gloves, and the fuzzy Dalek are an important addition to the KCTS donation scheme. They are also an important part of the Seattle landscape. This pledge drive has been going on for years and is a lot of fun to attend.

Copyright is one thing, but the bigger picture here is that while the copyright is extended in Europe for Doctor Who stuff, there is an influence thousands of miles away. While there are obvious rip offs and weirdness surrounding the Daleks,. much like “Kidnapped by the Daloids” (Not Safe for Work), the influence here is that a perfectly good donation scheme that has been going on for decades, now might not make as much if we can’t do the donation that we had planned on.

Now it is up to the KCTS lawyers to let us know if the fuzzy silky Daleks can go up for auction.

Tags: doctor who, kcts, copyright, daloids, mazz, bbc, donation