Copyright Question

I posed this question to Craft magazine via a letter to the editor:

>>I wanted to send a request via feedback, I particularly liked the article Business Basics for Crafty Types by Jenny Ryan.
I was wondering, and hoping, if you were planning to do an additional article or an expansion on the above one that would cover copyright questions. Specifically in relation to the WIDE availability of free patterns now, and the implication of selling products made from someone else's pattern, among other topics like how to copyright your work, etc.

and then found this post at whipup.net... which is far more articulate than I wrote...

Still looking for an answer about creating and profiting from a pattern of someone else's whether purchased or not....

This is an interesting article, from Tammy Browning-Smith, that seems to be a start of an answer...

Update: New info...
In this slideshow called Original vs Knockoff, The NYTimes says that "The cut or details of a garment cannot be copyrighted under existing law, although logos and original prints can be protected."