patricej

"Any artist in any medium should realize and accept that if they put their designs in a magazine or on the internet that they are going to be copied by anyone who likes them and chooses to try and reproduce them in a quilt in their chosen colors. "

sooooo ... because i know there are muggers out there somewhere, i should never leave my house? and if i do leave, and do get mugged, it's my fault? interesting logic. :?

******************************************

please follow these links to some very useful and informative articles on the subject of copyright.

http://qnm.com/copyright/index.html
http://www.phoebemoon.com/copyright_concerns.htm
http://www.copyright.gov/

lfw045

Let's leave the sound bites to the politicians please......LOL.

My apologies if I offended anyone with my opinion. I certainly would not knowingly copy anyone's work without permission or giving them credit for it if I used it in anyway. Please don't think that I ever would.

I was just pointing out ( rather badly obviously) that the above scenerio does happen, especially in the age of the internet and any artist that doesn't think that it does is really......well I'll keep that opinion to myself. I am apparently in enough trouble here for expressing my opinion.....LOL.

My point is this.........there are not enough quilt police in this world to catch each and every copyright infraction in the quilt world so why not just enjoy our craft, give credit where credit is due and just have fun in the process.

And yes patrice, if someone knew for a fact that there were muggers in their neighborhood and they went out of their house without a really big stick or some kind of protection and they got mugged........well......there I go with my opinion again.......LOL.......I got to learn to keep my sarcasm to myself........ :lol:

I love you guys........I'll keep my opinions to myself in the future on these types of subjects.......at least the sarcastic ones........ :lol:


Linda D.

Karenmay

Strewth! I wish I'd never asked! One thing I have learned today is not to ask questions! I'm beginning to wish I'd stuck to dressmaking!

Karen

Roben

A few thoughts as I read through this thread:

Please remember that, unless stated otherwise, no one here is a copyright attorney. We can give layman opinions, but if it were me I would definitely consult a copyright attorney before jeopardizing my home or livelihood. (Have you seen the $$ penalty for copyright infringement? Yikes!) I wouldn't rule out someone coming after me either - designers are getting fed up with the attitudes of infringers.

Copyright principles do not distinguish between different intents or monetary gain; the issue is whether the work was copied (medium doesn't matter either) plain and simple. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no personal use doctrine. Magazines, for example, may grant purchasers of the magazine the right to make a project for personal use, but that is their right to grant as the copyright holder.

If I see a project I may want to make, I go ahead and purchase the pattern, magazine, etc. It is just so much simpler - no lingering questions and it doesn't cost very much. It is also a nod to the designer, putting a little money in their pocket so they can continue to wow me with their creativity. Flattery by imitation feeds no one; supporting designers who put their hard work and sweat into creating new patterns for us supports the industry as a whole.

I've seen many discussions like this over the years, and I've come to a personal conclusion: Those that are genuinely interested in learning the rights and wrongs so that they can do the right thing will - those that offer tissue-paper thin excuses for doing the wrong thing will continue to do so.

babeegirl

Quilting is a textile form of creative expression. We use fabric, threads, tools, machines, patterns. All of which are protected in some form or another. The most important tools we have however, are our hearts, our minds, and our hands. We don't do what we do for glory, fame, or recognition. We do it for love, comfort, and simply because we love to create an item that embodies our imagination in a useful fashion that hopefully will remain as a legacy to our families of who we are. Do what you love to do however you can with the tools available to you and never forget that in the course of life, laws rarely govern the determination of the human soul and its expression. Abide by the rules set up to protect others wishing to share their souls' expressions, but never let that cause you to hinder or suppress your own imagination. There are no leaders and followers, only teachers and students. Learn what you can, where you can and take that knowledge beyond your own boundaries.

Janeen

here's another way to look at it - if you make public domain pattern, most likely it will be recognized as such - for instance, a double wedding ring - you make it using your own fabric choices, color choices, quilting choices and you love it - everybody else says 'what a beautiful double wedding ring' and all are happy.... no problems

ok, say you design a NEW block (hard to do in this day and age) and you LOVE IT.. and again, you agonize over the color/fabric/quilting choices and when finished you have a gorgeous one-of-a-kind quilt that you are so proud of, and every body who sees it says, 'WOW that's fantastic!'

and you post a photo on here because, naturally you are tickled to death with it and so proud of it, and have never done anything quite so gorgeous in your life and are fit to burst with joy over the thing...

and two weeks later somebody else who said, 'wow, I love that and I can do that' posts an identical quilt...

that's what it's all about... are you going to say, 'hey, that's fine, I'm flattered' or are you going to say, 'wait a minute, that was MY personal design' ??

believe me, just using 'traditional' patterns and all the new fabrics is about as creative as I get but I haven't seen any other quilts like mine...

we did a block of the month in guild - everybody made their own fabric choices and sashing choices and final finishing choices - even tho we all used the same blocks (12) every single quilt is different....

jstitch

Karen, I think you are taking the content of this thread too personally. You asked a good question as is evidence by the lengthy discussions. I believe that this kind of discourse is good for all of us. You just happened to be wondering about an issue that is subject to a lot of interpretation.

I would encourage you to keep wondering and keep asking..
For every question you ask, you will get a variety of answers. All of them personal opinions and all valuable.

You will read and use the ones most useful to you and your needs.

Its a healthy thing to wonder, ask, discuss and learn.

That is what is so great about this message board.

Karenmay

Don't worry Judy, I'm not taking it personally at all! lol! I wasn't even talking about a quilt, and I did state that even if did create something, it wouldnt have been given away or sold. I was just for the pleasure of making it and to hang in my sewing room!

Karen

mgrhs

I'm also kinda of scared now to and design a new block if I don't spend hours on line making sure someone out there hasn't already done the same block.

I do a lot of rag quilts that are one of a kind, that are donated for charities. If someone happens to have done ths same thing before me am I stealing?

jstitch

I dont think you need to be afraid to design blocks, quilts, quilt layouts or any of these activities. And your rag quilts for charity are fine..

What is a risk is taking something that is unique that you have seen and reproduce it.

Most people do not fit into the "stealing" category. Just use your common sense..dont let this scare you into NOT being creative and enjoying your craft...