>>>Intellectual property law is intellectual property law regardless of whether you are referring to watermelons or grapes/quilts or paintings. There is no difference in the copyright process of protecting an art design pattern or a quilting design pattern ( if you read my last post again you will see that I was referring to design instructional packets in both instances) >>It is the written instructions AND the patterns (line drawings) that are copyright protected. The owner of the original design has every right within the law to control the intended use of the design and if they say that the design is to be used for personal use only then that is all that can be done with their design both patterns and intstructions.>>If I were to publish a book on painting and drawing "crickets" and then found a painting that was a COPY of one of the crickets in my book, meaning that they had taken the PATTERN from my book (or a tracing or recognizable rendition) and placed it in their painting...even if they had changed the surroundings, flipped the cricket over, ripped off one of its legs or painted it purple...I would have every right to protect my intellectual property.>>However if they used the knowledge (just the knowledge, not the patterns) that they gleaned from my book to draw and paint their own "Cricket" paintings and proceed to sell them, then good for them - they are creating their own intellectual property and deserve all compensation>>No one is denying anyone the right to make an item for which they have paid for the pattern - I certainly did not say that you could not make the item from a pattern that you have lawfully purchased. I also said that if you make an item and decide it doesn't suit you or you don't like it or whatever....then you can go ahead and sell that one item without impunity.
...however, if you purchase a pattern packet containing a pattern and written instructions with the intent or motivation to sell the item or items and proceed to go ahead and do so then you are infringing on the copyright of the owner if they have stated that the pattern is for personal, non-commercial use. It is actually pretty easy with just a few questions to tell if someone is selling for personal reasons or if they had the intention right off the bat of making money from the pattern.
and yes, if you are infringing on someone elses copyright they can and do claim/seize/demand the offending items be turned over to them for disposal as well as receive monetary award and damages.
>>> My daughter gifted me a couple of quilting books this past Christmas and I went and looked at what the copyright statement in both of them said which was "items made from these patterns are intended for personal, non-commerical use"
seems pretty clear to me...personal use is intending to use the pattern for your own personal use and enjoyment. Commercial use is intending to use the patterns and instructions for the purpose of making money.