Copyright questions
 

Our church has a christmas bazaar every year to raise money for their emergency shelter in our neighborhood. This is very important since we live quite a distance from town. My neighbor and I make things and donate them to the bazaar to help out.

My neighbor and I were talking about making a quilt for next year's bizarre. I saw a wonderful pattern on the web that we decided we wanted to make. ....Plus I love the way and the colors that were used in the article. After looking at the pattern, I realize that the color scheme was the stores creativity and not the pattern.

We have no problem in attributing the pattern design to the author of the pattern. We also don't have a problem with attributing the color scheme with the store who had it on display.


What things do we need to do so that we are morally and legally giving credit where credit is due.

Try calling the store or email and asking. I can't imagine a shop not being thrilled to have free advertising.

I don't think there's any legal or moral requirement to give attribution for copying someone's choice of colors, especially if they were displayed on the internet with the pattern, but it would be a nice thing to do. If a quilt is going to be displayed, you technically need to get the permission of the pattern's author, but this permission is almost always freely given.

I wouldn't usually worry about the color scheme. There is only one case I know of where color scheme was involved in a legal case & upheld. The tricky part is whether you/the charity can sell a quilt based on someone else's design without their permission. You'll find loads of discussions on this topic here on the board. Honestly, there just isn't a whole lot of legal precedent so designers claim their designs are protected & people who use those designs without permission claim they aren't. To be clear, if a design were to be covered by copyright/patent, the US Fair Use law states "Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission." An IP attorney could best advise you on the issue. To avoid all the controversy, I always make sure to get permission from the designer before using either a design or a pattern to create a quilt I either plan to sell or give to charity for an auction. That may be overkill, but it's what I do.

And by the way ... I think it's wonderful if you also want to notate the sources of your inspiration. Just because it isn't necessary, doesn't mean it isn't nice to do. :thumbup:

There was a post here on the board saying that once a pattern is up for sale the byer can do what they choose to do with it.

I'm not sure whether or not you need permission from the designer legally but it would be nice to ask. I think it is likely that if you explain that you are only making one quilt, the quilt will be sold for charitable purposes and what that charity is, you will get permission.

The color scheme...likely not a big deal. Email the Designer and ask permission to use the pattern for the raffle and give details. Give credit to the designer on the quilt label. Easy. Keep the email that grants permission. I still have my Pam Bono email granting her permission for ours! This should not be an ordeal. CYA
SANDY

Very interesting information. I never worried about using a pattern and then selling the quilt. Most of my patterns then when I was selling, the company that has the copyright of the pattern knew that I was selling them and then even had my quilts photographed in their books.

Visit the website of ( Intellectual Property of the Little Guy) he discusses the many situations dealing with copyright laws and shares the details of court cases, past, present and on going. Lots of good information to answer all those questions and to help you avoid becoming one of the featured cases.

Here's an interesting article written by a lawyer who's also a quilter on just this subject!

http://whileshenaps.com/2014/03/can-...g-pattern.html