Stitch 'n' Bitch Bitchiness...

According to this recent article in The Daily Telegraph, knitters may soon have to drop the term 'Stitch 'n' Bitch' from the name of their groups.

Here are a couple of highlights from the article:

...groups are being forced to drop the term stitch and bitch in a trademark row. Elissa Meyrich, the creator of the company Sew Fast Sew Easy, is trying to prevent circles using the phrase, claiming she owns the rights...

 

...Sew Fast Sew Easy urged Yahoo, the online search engine, to send cease-and-desist letters to circles using Stitch'N'Bitch on the internet or face deletion. Scores of online knitting groups were "instantly wiped out", said Brenda Dayne, whose knitting podcast Cast-on has 3,000 listeners...

I knew it would only be a matter of time before something like this happened. She has a stitch n' Bitch cafe on her site doesn't she. These things are so hard to prove though and you never know who is right. Has she gone after Debbie Stoller yet? Or is it only the groups she objects to? The groups have only come up following the success of Debbie's books though haven't they?

I knew it would only be a matter of time before something like this happened. She has a stitch n' Bitch cafe on her site doesn't she. These things are so hard to prove though and you never know who is right. Has she gone after Debbie Stoller yet? Or is it only the groups she objects to? The groups have only come up following the success of Debbie's books though haven't they?

I think the problem stems from the fact that she copyrighted the phrase before Debbie Stoller used it. However, knitters have argued that the phrase has been in use for decades, long before anyone thought to copyright it, and way before Debbie Stoller's books were published.

I suppose that the copyright will have to be upheld - the lawyers will undoubtedly make a lot of money ensuring that it is. It is a shame though that such a simple and well-used phrase can be abused by those out to make money from the recent popularity of knitting and indirectly from Debbie Stoller's excellent books.

You might notice that some knitting bloggers have started to post little buttons on their sites which say something like 'Free to Bitch', which I thought was quite amusing .