TV Story

07 January 2009 17:30 BST

Knitting fan's Dr Who creations incur wrath of Beeb

A knitting enthusiast has sparked a row with the BBC after posting patterns on her website showing fans how to make Dr Who monsters.

The BBC sent the woman, who goes by the screen name of Mazzmatazz, a letter asking her to remove the items from her site as they breached copyright.

Mazzmatazz has now taken down patterns for the Dr Who creatures Ood and Adipose, which were featured in the latest series.

However, a campaign group has taken up the cause and is asking the broadcaster to rethink its actions.

Open Rights Group, which raises awareness of digital civil rights, said an organisation like the BBC with a public service remit should be stimulating the creative economy in the UK.

"The approach the BBC have taken with Mazz's knitting patterns demonstrate a distinct lack of flexibility," the group said on its website.

"It is quite possible that through transforming the characters in Dr Who into knitting patterns, Mazz may have infringed upon the BBC's copyright.

"But it’s hard to see how Mazz's non-commercial knitting patterns actually damage the commercial interests of the BBC."

But the BBC disagreed, saying the designs were making their way onto eBay and other sites.

Philip Fleming, spokesman for the BBC, said: "We are not heavy-handed when it comes to fans creating their own products out of a love for the show, providing it's on a small scale and not for profit.

"In the instance of the knitting patterns created by Mazzmatazz, they were posted on a website and ended up being exploited for profit by people who did not have permission to use the Doctor Who trademark. This 'profit' would not have been returned to the BBC whereas BBC Worldwide's profits are.

"We did not threaten Mazzmatazz with legal action or prosecution as has been suggested in some media reports today."

Mr Fleming also said there was a possibility that the broadcaster could work with Mazzmataz in the future.

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