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Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)No one can 'copyright' an idea. It must be put into a tangible format or expression, whether it is a dance danced, or music played or a drawing drawn.
You can however own a © /Copyright to the original drawing of your rendition of your pattern, which means that no one else could take the pattern/line drawing of yours, once it's been put into this tangible format, and use it as a pattern template and reproduce bears or other sewn items from it, in any size or other mediums, for any purpose, w/o your permission or licensing.
That's the short explanation of Copyrights. Here're a few other explanations:
Copyright protection does not exist for an idea, procedure, process, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery. This is true because a copyright protects only the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the resulting creation. Furthermore, a copyright is not “granted†in the same manner as patents or trademarks. A copyright is provided to the authors of “original works of authorship,†regardless of whether the work has been published and regardless of whether the work has been formally federally registered.
http://ipwatchdog.com/category/copyright/
and in layman's terms I've always liked these sites -
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html
http://www.craftdesigns4you.com/copyrights.htm
http://ipwatchdog.com/2011/09/03/intern … /id=18966/
If we start to copyright elements of a teddy bear, there will be nothing left for artists to be able to grow into and experiment with.
I want dibs on bears with ears! 
Seriously, though, I don't think it's very easy to get an aspect of a common thing legally copyrighted. Steiff had a heck of a time making "Knopf In Ohr" an exclusive trademark, and they never were able to make an actual button in a teddy bear's ear their own (they tried) - just the phrase.
So I'll put buttons in my bears' ears if I want to, and hope that it doesn't become illegal to make bears with glass eyes and embroidered noses. 
Becky
