Originally Posted by
Quiltngolfer
I don't know the answer to this one either. My friend and I were shopping one day and saw a pretty quilt. We started to take a picture and were asked to leave the store. It really hurt my feelings. I don't remember now why we tried to take a picture, but the lady made us feel like thieves. I didn't even quilt at that time, so I never meant to "steal" her pattern. My guess is if you intentionally copy someone's pattern exactly without their permission, you infringe on the copyright. If you make some changes, then it would be your new pattern. There are so many quilt patterns out there now, how can we possibly know if a pattern is copyrighted?
I had this happen to me once too and I had just purchased the pattern from that shop. I took the pix to remember the color selection they had used on the shop sample because it was much more attractive than the colors used on the pattern jacket. I was so embarrassed and my friend was in tears. I told the clerk who had just checked us out what I was doing and she still was horrid to us. Needless to say I don't shop there anymore.