Originally Posted by
bkay
This copyright thing is way out of hand. The idea that someone can tell you what you can do with a product that they sell to you is ludicrous. If you buy a quilt pattern from someone, you can use that pattern any way you choose (other than copying the pattern itself and reselling it). You can give it to your mom, you can burn it in the fireplace or you can make confetti out of it.
What makes it ludicrous is that copyright exists under federal law. Who, exactly do you think might enforce this rule that pattern makers (writers, fabric designers, etc) think exists that allows them to dictate what people do with their copyright? Do they think they can go to the assistant attorney general and he/she will go to court and get an injunction that prevents you from selling a quilt you made? Equally ludicrous is that many individuals who design patterns don't actually copyright them. Just saying something is copyrighted (or putting a copyright symbol on it) does not make it copyrighted. You have to actually fill out the paperwork, have a sample, file it and pay the fee. A trademark can exist that has not be registered, but a copyright cannot be. What really makes it stupid of those who claim copyright rights, is that you can change the color, the size, bind it on the bias or anything, and it would not be copyrighted (it's not anyway). It's like a copyrighted recipe. You can change the amount of salt by 1/4 tsp. and it's not a copy of the recipe. You can call it yours, print it in a magazine and sell it on the street corner. The same would be true of quilts. It would have to be an exact copy even if the copyright extended that far.
From what I've read online, this "copyright" thing has mushroomed into all the questions that keep on coming is Etsy. Apparently, Etsy has taken down some handmade items because someone(s) have complained that they hold a copyright on a pattern, therefore the item made from their pattern is an infringement of their copyright.
Apparently, it's encouraged some people to claim rights they do not have. Just do a search for "first sale doctrine". It's pretty clear.
bkay
Actually you do not have to register a copyright for your work to be protected. This is from the US government site on copyright: When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.