Good. The law says you can do that. I never said the entire set of copyright laws make sense – they just are what they are. And people can argue and come up with comparisons forever. Doesn’t change the law, which states clearly, (paraphrasing, of course) “You want it? Buy it or borrow it from the library or a friend.” None of the many exceptions applies to informal knitting groups.

Unfortunately, “society” these days is “if I want it, I take it,” which is why I’m unsubtle about making the “no stealing patterns” policy clear in my group, nor can I participate in a group where that isn’t made clear, especially since patterns have already been copied and distributed illegally in that group and I was the only person to speak up.

I don’t copy patterns for friends from books. I do lend the books because I know many are out of print, hard to find, or expensive. Rather than a copy of a CD…what springs to mind as a closer comparison is a copy of recipe out of a book. How often do people do that? Is it yours if you substitute carrots for green beans in a soup or modify the spices? If nothing could be dispersed without owning a copy, how bland would our diets be…which is why education gets the nod and the rules are not black and white so we as a community and society can move forward. I don’t have an answer to this. I personally believe that “respect” should be the guiding rule both for the intellectual property and the people involved.