Opinions wanted please!

esseesee

First of all, I apologise for the length of this post ...

Now I've retired I'd like to raise some actual money for a charity I've been supporting for a while.

I love crafting, and regularly go to craft fairs to help a friend who demonstrates primitive weaving and sells hand-made items.

I have found an overseas foreign-language site which offers free downloads of instructions and plans of some unusual, even unique, items, which would cost very little other than some time (of which I have plenty, now) and some of which I believe, with alterations, could be very profitable and saleable at the sort of craft fair I go to, and which would not clash with any of the other items for sale. I can have a corner of my friend's stall, and am in the process of checking with fair organisers that it would be OK.

The copyright disclaimer on the site states that I acknowledge that copyright of the downloads is vested in such-and-such a site, and that I am able to download as many items as I want, print off, make and assemble as many items as I want, and give away as many items as I want, but that I must not sell these items.

I have emailed the site owner several times in both English and the language in which the site appears without getting any reply; I will persist. In case I never get a reply, however, I would be interested in your opinions (opinions only, I do appreciate!) on how ethical it would be if I were to do the following:

Download, make up and assemble the free items as I am permitted to do. I then give them away for free - as the site again explicitly permits and even encourages me to do - and I request (request, not require!) a gold coin or even paper money donation for the charity, in exchange for these items.

If someone asks me for one of these items without giving a donation to the charity (to find out if it really is a donation or just a profit-making sale!) I will give them one with a big grump! or maybe I will keep the faulty or mis-assembled ones for this purpose ...

Having read elsewhere that regulations do not permit a person without the requisite premises licence to sell food, but that because a person is allowed to give away food for free, if they say 'Get a free piece of cake with every 50p donation' they can get away with it as the food is not being 'sold', I wonder if the same principle would apply to what I am thinking of doing?

What do you think?

Savvy_Sue

I wouldn't see a problem with that. Although is it OK to alter their 'patterns'?

Can you see how recently the site was last altered? That might give you a clue as to whether it's still 'live' or not.

esseesee

Well, isn't it just typical?!

After spending several weeks trying in vain to contact the site owner, pondering this, and finally posting here for opinions, the latest address I found and emailed to last night has resulted in a first-thing-in-the-morning response from the site owner, who very charmingly wrote in English that it would be remiss of him to deny me permission to use any of his free downloads for the purpose stated and for recompense in the way I describe, and that he would appreciate knowing how I get on with the fund-raising.

So I have a new project for the summer in preparing items for the popular pre-Christmas fairs ... now to start checking out materials of the right price and right quality ...

Savvy_Sue

That is excellent news, and much better to be sure the site owner is happy with your plans. Clearly someone who doesn't want other people to profit from or exploit his work, but ready to let a charity benefit.