Copyright and items sold at Quilt Shows
 

Hi,
This topic came up recently among some quilters and me. When a Quilt Guild has a boutique or table where members sell their handmade items, does the guild hold any responsibility on whether or not the items are made from patterns in the public domain? Is anything in the Quilt Show policies that address this area? Most of the items we sell are not made from a purchased pattern such as pillows made from panels, small baby quilts, pot holders and mug rugs. I have seen tutorials on line that allow home crafters to sell items made from them as long as credit to the designer and the website is attached. Is it the committee members' responsibility to monitor this?
Thanks for your help.

If your guild is worried about it, the members can sign a form saying they have not violated copyright law. Remember a designer's rules are not part of the copyright law. The rules are always printed right under the copyright so it looks legal.

Thank you, onebyone. I reread www.tabberone.com since your post reminded me of that site. What is your take on this: if the rule stated is to attach the designer's name and website to the item, is this just a polite and respectful thing to do? I read about the difference between written consent and passive consent - that just buying the pattern or following the tutorial is not giving my active
Thanks again.consent to the designer's rules.
I know this is a hot button topic and I have friends who are designers. Upon further thought, in this age of googling etc., it would probably be easy to find the pattern source if you really wanted to make that item that I'm selling in my little craft booth.
I was brought up to be a rule follower so when this debate erupted the other day, I just wanted to be sure that I was doing the right thing for my guild. Now that I'm thinking of it, that is what those rules expect of me and others, that we'll follow them without question, right?

This subject comes up quite frequent on here.

I'm no expert by any stretch..but in your original post yous state that most items are not made from purchased patterns. In that case, I can't see where any copyright issues would be in play in any way, shape or form.

Yes, that's true. I was just trying to cover all my bases and make sure we were doing the right thing.

nobody can sell copies (as in multiple prints from download or using a scanner, copier or other methods of duplication) of the patterns - whether free or purchased - unless they have written permission from the copyright owner.

you can sell items made using those patterns.
some pattern designers/publishers try to frighten us with statements that we can only make items for personal use.
however, it is the patterns that are covered by copyrights. not the resulting items.

the exception might be if those items were somehow mass produced, which doesn't sound likely in your circumstances.