You can find most of this information online at the US Government Copyright Office web site. Keep in mind that this includes designs, patterns and other works that are placed on the Internet. Sometimes just telling them the year that it was copyrighted is enough for them to realize it's a pattern you can't give them a copy of. If on the Web, give them the URL to go to for themselves. Copyright protection still goes by date of copyright.
Consequences Think about it.
Anyone who says on a public bulletin board that they're sending a photocopy of a copyrighted pattern, asks someone else to do that or commits any other copyright abuse on the Internet is doing it right out in the open for everyone to see, including the designer or publisher of that pattern. The amount of the fine that the judge orders you to pay may be less if you didn't charge any money for the copy you distributed but it would be a fine, nonetheless. Maybe you think you'll never get caught. There are plenty of staff of publishing companies online and more all the time. Say it here .