I am still very confused. There are so many different comments about this.

I read one site that said you could sell multiples of a stuffy as long as they were hand constructed and not machine sewn.

A designer's rules are not the same as copyright law. It's not illegal to break a rule.

Stop and think about it. Don't just take someone's word about it. As fruitloop says, a designer can say anything, with the hope you'll believe they have the right to limit your use of the product you just bought. However, they have no right to tell you what you can do with it. Once they sell it, it's yours. That is, you cannot copy their work and sell it. A quilt designer can copyright their pattern. That means you cannot sell their pattern. That does not mean you can't sell a quilt made with their pattern. You can sell 1,000 quilts made with their pattern. They have no rights to anything except the pattern, itself. They can only copyright what ever they themselves make. In this case, it's the pattern - the paper pattern (or download, or whatever).

The fabric designer has the same rights. They design the fabric. You can't steal their fabric design. That's all their copyright protects. You cannot duplicate their fabric design. However, you can use the fabric they designed for toilet paper if you choose. It's yours. You bought it. You can do anything you want with it, other than copying the design. If you want to sell it on the street corner, you can. You just can't use their design to have more fabric made.

You can read copyrights. They are online. You can only copyright a "something". You cannot copyright an idea or a theory or what someone might do with your "something". It has to be a specific "something" you can describe that is different from something that already exists. It has to be something you found, designed, invented, engineered, etc.

They did not make your quilt. They have no control over your quilt. It's not covered by the copyright. Courts have always ruled that after an item is sold, the copyright holder has no rights. That means, once you buy a yard of fabric, you can do whatever you want with it, other than duplicating it for sale.

bkay

I have found patterns and websites that have statements that allow you to sell items made with credit. I've been told that when they state a limited number that you can make, it's to protect them from some manufacturer mass producing the item.
Always a hot topic, particularly if you ask a designer.

I've read that Lori Holt goes after individual bloggers and threatens them with copyright lawyers, even though her designs aren't that clever and easily figured out.

charlotte

"Threatens" is the operative word. The threat is often enough to dissuade someone from exercising their rights. In reality, she is not going to pay a lawyer to try to defend her copyright where it doesn't apply. One thing is that the lawyer is not going to take it unless she pays up front. They know she can't win. She know she can't win. So, she threatens. (I know nothing about the designer you are referring to - I'm speaking in generalities).

Someone who vigorously guards her copyrights is Eleanor Burns. She carefully guards her patterns. If you want to make a quilt from one of her patterns, you just about have to buy it. If someone posts one online, she has it removed. She has a perfect right to do that. Her pattern is her creation. As far as I know, she makes no effort to control the people who use her pattern to create quilts.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to control the sale of quilts made from their patterns, but their copyright doesn't extend that far. It only covers the sharing or selling of their product - the pattern itself.

bkay

I can understand that though. Figuring out how someone made something is different than coming up with it in the first place.

My husband does some work with people trying to patent industrial and consumer products. Just because you can figure out how someone made something that is patented, doesn't mean you can make the product and sell it. I think it would be similar with copyright.

It doesn't matter how many you make. You can mass produce it, you can flush it down the toilet, you can run it up a flagpole. You can use a pattern any way you wish, as long as you buy the pattern and do not sell copies of it.

I, sort of, understand that someone wants to control the use of their creation. Once they sell it, they can't. They just can't.

Putting a disclaimer on their website doesn't make it so. It's just like the signs in the grocery store parking lot. The sign says they aren't responsible for damage to your vehicle caused by carts while parked in the lot. That's not true. They are responsible. However, if you believe the sign, you won't pursue it. They win. You lose.

bkay

BKay ... you seem to have a wealthy of knowledge on this subject.
Are you a lawyer? Work in this area of government?
Perhaps represent a corporation on such subjects?
Or from where does your expertise come?




Would wonder how this same subject matter may be applied in different countries.