copyrighted college logo fabrics
 

I was in the process of making a college logo candle mat for a friend to sell @ her fall church festival.Then I saw an article how Etsy has shut down some people selling copyrighted fabric hand made items .I called the company that has the copyright to my fabric and he told me to make them with their blessings,as I was not making a personal gain from it.Charity fund raising items are exempt.personal gain is not. I just didn't want to get my friend in trouble over the copyright laws that are so picky now. I'm sew happy that I called and checked it out.

That is nice to know. There is so much conflicting information on copyright. Never hurts to contact the mfr and find out. And hope that they are as responsive as the one you contacted.

The craft fairs I go to are FULL of booths selling stuff made out of those college fabrics.

Actually, you'll get a different answer depending on which fabric company you contact. That said, there is existing case law about this issue & the courts determined that as long as the person making the final product legally purchased the fabric (and had no reason to believe the seller was violating any laws) they can use it for any lawful purpose, including reselling the fabric or turning it into something else & selling that new product. The licensing agreement is between the college & the fabric producer -- not the end user. Printing some nonsense on the selvedge of the fabric about it being "for personal use only" does not constitute a binding contract. I strongly believe in IP rights, but in this case, they've taken it far beyond what the law supports. The only issue with which one needs to exercise caution is in advertising the product. But if you're just setting up a booth somewhere called "Betty's College Logo Quilts" (or whatever -- as long as you aren't using a copyrighted/trademarked name), according to Precious Moments v. La Infantil, your only obligation is to reference on your quilt label that _______ is a copyright/TM of ___________ (for example, "U of I" logo is Copyright © 2016 of The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois).

Here's a link to the case: http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/...FullCase.shtml

Please note that this case applies specifically to licensed fabric, not to patterns or other designs. If you have any contracts or agreements with the seller of the fabric, those may supersede this law. And, of course, anyone in doubt about IP law should contact a licensed attorney in their state.

That's weird. I'd actually think that all fabric is technically copyrighted.

For fabric with copyrighted images, look up the "First Sale Doctrine". Once you buy that fabric, you are legally entitled to do as you wish with it, it now belongs to you. Trademarked or copyrighted images however are where it gets sticky. You can do as you wish with the fabric, but you cannot reproduce the logos or images(i.e. make a machine embroidered logo or character on something) without a licensing agreement with the trademark or copyright owner.

Cari

This will probably add mud to the issue, but I thought that when the university gave approval to sell the fabric through a fabric store, their rights ended there, and that buyers could make anything they wanted, even if they sold the items.

I agree with Carolynjo. Why do they license copies to use their logo on fabric if they don't expect it to be used for personal use or sale. Either way their college is being promoted which should be the goal of the school. Not everyone can quilt for themselves. If they hold their design so tightly they can just keep it as far as I am concerned and forget any donations from me to their school.

Thanks, Bree123, that really helps.

What's the point in selling their fabric if you can't use it. Do they expect us quilters to just look at it? JMHO