Licensing

Licensing & Use

Last updated: 27 July 2026 · Version wb-licence-2026-07

When you buy a Witty Badger design, you are buying a licence to use the design files — you are not buying the copyright, and you are not buying the files to own outright. We stay the owner of every design. This page explains, in plain English and then in full, exactly what each licence lets you do. Buying any design means you accept these terms.

One price covers a whole pattern — every hoop size we’ve digitised for it is included in your single download. Bought the wrong licence? Email us and we’ll upgrade you for the difference.

The licence in full

1. What you are granted

Subject to these terms and full payment, The Witty Badger grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the design files you purchase, for the licence type you selected at checkout (personal or commercial). The licence is granted to you personally (or your single business, for a commercial licence) and to no one else.

2. What you may not do — files

Under every licence, you may never:

1. copy, share, send, sell, gift, lend, sub-licence, or otherwise distribute the design files (in any format, whole or in part) to any other person or business;
2. upload the files to any website, cloud folder, group chat, Discord, forum, marketplace, or file-sharing service;
3. make the files available for others to download, whether free or paid;
4. claim the designs as your own, or edit a design and present it as an original work; or
5. use the designs to create a competing set of digitised embroidery files.

Each licence is for one person or one business. If a friend or colleague wants a design, they buy their own copy — it is only a few pounds and it is what keeps us making designs.

3. Personal licence — permitted use

A personal licence lets you stitch the designs for yourself and your household and give finished items as gifts. It does not permit any sale of, or profit from, items made using the designs. If you intend to sell anything you make, you need a commercial licence.

4. Commercial licence — permitted use

A commercial licence includes all personal rights and additionally lets you sell finished physical items that you make yourself using the designs, as a sole trader or small business. It does not permit selling, sharing, or sub-licensing the files themselves, mass production, or industrial-scale manufacturing. If you operate at manufacturing scale, contact us for a bespoke arrangement.

5. Ownership

All designs, files, and artwork remain the intellectual property of The Witty Badger at all times. Nothing in these terms transfers any copyright or ownership to you. This licence is our permission for you to use the designs within its limits — not a sale of the design itself.

6. Traceability

Purchases are tied to your account and your files are delivered by unique, time-limited download links issued to you. We may embed or record identifying information to trace files that are shared in breach of this licence.

7. Breach and termination

If you break any part of this licence — in particular by sharing or distributing the files — your licence terminates immediately and automatically, you must delete all copies of the files, and you are no longer permitted to use the designs in any way. We reserve every right and remedy available to us, including under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and may pursue recovery of losses and costs. Unauthorised copying or distribution of the files is copyright infringement under UK law even where it was not intended.

8. No warranty beyond your legal rights

Files are provided as digitised embroidery designs for use on domestic embroidery machines. Results vary with your machine, stabiliser, thread, and fabric. If a file is faulty or not as described, contact us and we will put it right; nothing here removes your statutory rights.

9. Refunds

Because the files are digital and download immediately, by completing your purchase and downloading you agree the 14-day right to cancel no longer applies. See our Terms of Use.

10. Governing law

This licence is governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Plain English

We trust you. These terms protect us as a small creative business — they are not here to catch you out. Stitch away, make lovely things, and if you sell them, grab the commercial licence for the sake of a pound or two of peace of mind. The one hard rule: never share the files. Send people to our shop instead of sending them the file.

Questions about your use case? We’re friendly and almost always say yes — just get in touch.