A British fan of the long-running BBC show Doctor Who was threatened with legal action for creating knitted versions of the show's monsters.

The 26-year-old woman -- who wants to be known only by her work name, Mazzmatazz -- told The Times of London she is just an ordinary person who likes knitting. She created knitting patterns for Ood, a squid-faced creature, and Adipose, a monster made out of human fat, and posted them on her Web site.

She took the knitting patterns off-line when the BBC notified her that she was infringing on its copyright.

Becky Hogge, executive director of the Open Rights Group -- a British organization that advocates on digital rights and civil liberties issues -- suggested copyright law needs to be changed to protect fan tributes to popular movies, TV shows and books.

We need to recognize that there is a difference between selling knock-off hand-bags in the market, and fans who are making tributes and contributing to creativity in the future, said Hogge.

A BBC spokesman said the broadcaster does not like going after fans but had to protect Adipose and Ood because knitted versions were showing up for sale on eBay.

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