Originally Posted by
bearisgray
The line between public domain - whatever that is - and copyrighted material is where I am confused.
The Jane A. Stickle quilt popularized in the Dear Jane book is an example that I find very puzzling.
The Dear Jane author did not make that quilt - but seems to be profiting from another' s work. Is it because the maker has been dead a long time?
Public domain is now being discussed in a separate thread.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...s-t261518.html
Brenda Papadakis has trademarked the "Dear Jane" name. She is capitalizing on the 'Dear Jane' name only, plus any written text or derivative patterns she came up with (which would be copyright protected). That is her right.
It has nothing to do with the Stickle quilt, which is in the public domain. You may copy the Stickle quilt and any of the blocks in it without restriction, you just can't refer to it as a 'Dear Jane' quilt. Baby Jane is not trademarked, btw, nor is Jane.
In fact, if you do a web search, virtually every mention of 'Dear Jane' is followed by this in parenthesis: "Dear JaneŽ is the registered trademark of Brenda Papadakis and is used with permission". I'm probably up for trademark infringement as we speak. 