I'm not an attorney and do not profess to know copyright law, at all. However, I do have a recommendation for anyone interested in the topic. I have been listening to a weekly podcast called Just Wanna Quilt by Elizabeth Townsend Gard. She is a law professor at Tulane and an avid quilter. She has interviewed many of the well known quilt designers and her intended purpose of these podcasts is for a (quilting) Copyright Research Project . I've listened to maybe 6-8 interviews and find it all very interesting - especially how the opinions and concerns vary amongst the well known designers. Elizabeth seems very well educated about the entire subject matter and her interviews are fun to listen to and quite informative. This weeks podcast is a 1 1/2 hour interview with Marianne Fons
Here is her website
https://www.justwannaquilt.com/