Scissor Queen

Go read this page, http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/...Patterns.shtml

Designers do not have the right to tell you what you can or can't do with any item you make from their patterns.

cindyg

I agree. I don't think I've ever made a quilt exactly as the pattern is written whether in a magazine or a book. I always change the colors and usually the border. I don't think I would be breaking any laws if I decide to hang my quilt at a quilt show. If they don't want you using their patterns, why publish them? I do understand that it's a no-no to copy patterns and give them out to a class or friends. The designer deserves to make their money off it. If I were a designer, I would feel honored if quilters wanted to use my pattern and it would sure be interesting to see what color ways come out of it.

Ada Shiela

Glad you noticed that slip up too Charlene :lol: Some say laws are meant to be broken but most of us try to abide by them - remember the old philosopher who said: "The law is an ass"!!! In that case, a prescription might come in handy :roll:

katmom54

Sorry, but I am tired of all the issues about copyrights and who can use what and who can show where. After reading some of these forums I feel like a criminal every time I see a really pretty quilt on the QB and I bookmark it for future reference...I am afraid that one day I will make a quilt and give it to someone as a gift and the 'original' artist will see it and come after me for royalites or something. I feel like I need to enclose a disclaimer with every project i do, and provide a letter of authenticity.
Has crafting (ie, quilting) really become that cut-throat and commercial?
I am not a crook - I don't steal from the LQS, I don't photocopy all my purchased patterns and sell them,and I don't sneak pics at quilt shows to make cheap multiples of the 'winner' to sell on Ebay .
BUT....I am a crafter who enjoys other designs and techniques and incorporate them into my own projects. If I enter a show, I will abide by their rules (but have less and less interest in showing if it is that complicated) ...and since I have no plans to snitch designs and mass market them
...I am not going to worry about copyrights anymore.

texas granny

I just bought the new McCalls mag. today They have a story about copy right 101 in the mag. It will answer all you question.

Friendly Quilter

I agree, why do we even buy patterns , Quilt Books or Quilt Mag. if we by law can not show, share or even in some cases give away or sell the quilts we maked from all these sorces. So many of the patterns come from blocks that are grandmothers and there grandmothers used. I could go on for ever on this but I will not.

Lacelady

So could I or couldn't I put my Jane Stickle reproduction quilt in a show without the wrath of whoever coming down on me? And if I could, what information should I put with it?

costumegirl

That's a good question! Many of those blocks are very old patterns and are in the public domain.

If these blocks were rearranged in a different order/placement and in different colors would that be considered infringement? Would permission be required because they were gathered and put in a book? Can someone claim ownership to a block in the public domain because they put it in a book?

For example, there are lots of Log Cabin designs that have been used by many Designers who have then published a book. Do they each claim right to that pattern? If I make a Log Cabin quilt and display it or sell it, do I have to contact the multitude of people who have published the Log Cabin block for permission even though it is in the public domain? I probably would not.

With the DJ, I guess if you call it a Baby Jane or DJ with reference to the book, you probably do have to get permission. If you call it something else and have changed the layout, colors, used EQ to plan your quilt and some of the blocks/design who knows?

mom-6

If it's a kit or a pattern that you followed to the letter, then that's one thing, but once you start doing your own thing with it, how can anyone claim copyright? I rarely buy patterns and even more rarely actually follow them. Somehow or other mine is not going to look just like the pattern.

Then again I see pictures of all sorts of quilts and totes and eventually one I've made is most likely going to be pretty much like one somebody else made using some pattern, even though I just did my own thing.

So it becomes a real conundrum.

ckcowl

copy right laws are laws and do hold up in court rooms, so, maybe just maybe, you should make it a practice, if you want to display your work in public places make sure you either #1. ask permission from whom ever the design belongs to, or #2. make sure your work is original.
if you notice in that same article it does tell you you can sell the quilt, you can give it away, you can keep it, you just have to ask first if you are going to display it anywhere public. it is the same for any copyrighted item; there is no point in being all upset about it, just learn the law and live with it. it has nothing to do with quilt police, it has to do with THE UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT OFFICE.