nabobw

Why get someone in trouble.

dixie_fried

Great link, Chay! Thanks for adding it.

ghostrider

I suspect the differences between what you claim is the case (the resulting constructed items are covered by copyright) and what many others believe to be the case (those items are not covered by copyright) can be explained very simply. You are referring to Canadian copyright law and we are talking about US copyright law. There are multiple significant differences and the US law generally provides more freedoms for users of copyrighted material (e.g., Canada has Moral Rights, the US doesn't; the US has Fair Use exceptions, Canada doesn't).

bigsister63

thanks for the link! Very interesting. I also looked up "federal copyright laws" and read some of it( who can understand "legal ease"). My limited understanding of all of this info is that the PATTERN is copyrighted, PATTERN can not be copied for resale, not valid if "distinguishable variation" of original pattern, can not copyright "common names" ie COKE or basic patterns ie: bowtuck ( has now become name for certain style ), not valid if not know (not printed). I now think that designers just put such statements such as " only for person use or charitable contribution" to scare you into into not making item for sale/profit. Contact your local patent attorney for more info!

Geri B

I have heard that Fons & Porter are very restrictive in their copyrighted patterns too......

onaemtnest

What a GREAT link!!!!! I particularly liked the response from Kate Spain in the comments section and then the rebuttal...

I guess if I break a law, a rule here in little old rural Idaho and the big guns want to come and get me, I'll face it then. I shall make quilts to gift with fabric that have selvedges that forbid certain uses after I purchased it and let the chips fall where they may!

I find most of this so very confusing, if not down right ridiculous for the average quilter.... and if someone should sue me, they can have half of the nothing worth grabbing I possess. Except my DH and fur babies! :0) JMHO

dixie_fried

This section of the copyright law discusses how a copyright/registration is obtained: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap4.pdf

It is generally accepted that anytime someone creates something, it is protected under copyright (providing it is an original work). It is their intellectual property, and no part of the WORDS OR IMAGES may be reproduced for sale without their written permission. Whatever other wording a designer/author adds beyond that is just posturing on their part.

If infringement is suspected, the designer has to register their work with the copyright office in order to seek legal damages.

FroggyinTexas

Thanks, Ghostrider, for good sense. These discussions drive me crazy because, while it is clear that people who buy quilt patterns cannot legally copy those patterns and sell or give them away, the creator of the pattern could not possibly retain control over the items made using the pattern. Suppose he/she stipulated that the item could only be used to cover a bed and not a couch, for a dog bed and not a cat bed, and so on ad infinitum. Of course the designer should be compensated for his/her intellectual property; no one is contesting that, but to say that the person who buys supplies to make an item using that pattern, puts in hours of labor, uses capital goods over which he/she has effective control (sewing machine, cutting mat, scissors, rotary cutters, etc.) has no right to profit from his/her investment is absurd. People get their pay for their intellectual creativity when they sell their pattern. Here's another thing--most patterns I buy come from a third party, i.e., a quilt shop that has already paid the pattern creator or his/her agent. Does that give the retailer a proprietary right in the pattern so that if I am going to use the pattern I have to buy fabric and other supplies from that quilt shop? Give me a break! Use a little sense! froggyintexas

tabberone

None of what you claimed in the above quote has anything to do with patterns and their use to make and sell articles. Nor does 30 years experience as an artist, etc.

The US Supreme Court stated in 1879 that copyright protection in a pattern does not extend to a dress made from that copyrighted pattern. Then, in 1908, the US Supreme Court stated that a copyright owner cannot invoke restrictions on use of a copyrighted article by printing those restrictions on the article, it required a contract between the parties. A contract requires agreement between the parties before the transaction. And the federal courts have long maintained that the owner of a copyrighted article loses control over that particular copy once it has been sold or given away.

No permission is needed to make and sell articles. Only ONE copy of a pattern is needed to make more than one article. And the copyright protection that is automatic under the law is the protection of ownership, not enforcement of the copyright. A copyright MUST be registered with the copyright office before any civil action can be initiated. The exclusive rights provided under copyright law do not become effective until after it is registered because if it cannot be enforced in court then there are no rights simply upon fixation.

We have researched thousands of federal court cases. There are no federal court cases that have gone to trial over the use of a pattern to make and sell articles. The closest one was from the 1930s where a designer had copyrighted a drawing of a dress. The designer then tried to sue someone who making copies of the dress to sell. The federal court in New York rejected the claims saying that it was the drawing of the dress that was copyrighted, not the dress itself. And that is consistent with federal decisions on other copyright matters.

ElsieMaeMae

I was inspired by a design I saw on a set of dishes. I did not copy the design exactly but it is very similar to the design that inspired me. Is it a copywrite issue to be inspired by a design and then made into an entirely new medium? In this case, dishware design to fabric quilt. I have no intention of selling this quilt but I may display it at a fair.