the question was: can I enter a quilt I made from a McCalls mag or other mag in quilt show?

Answer: a quilt show is a public display and therefore only the designer can enter the quilt However you can ask permission. the magazine owns or shares the copyright and should be approached for permission.

I can't believe this, talk about quilt police...our guild has a local quilt show and wouldn't be displaying anything if this was the correct procedure....unbelieveable

People are going to believe what they want to believe and there's just no changing minds on this issue. McCall's is not making things up, it's part of the copyright law, and I guarantee you the magazine's attorneys approved the article prior to publication. If your guild wants to comply with the law, as many other shows already do, they may want to re-examine their policies. Like any law, whether or not you follow it is entirely up to you. However, not following it does not change the law one little bit.

I suspect the designers welcome the viewing of their creations. Perhaps it is a simple thing just to request it.

I have a very hard time believing this would hold up in court. I think the designers should be acknowledged when the quilts are displayed, but as far as getting "permission". I think that is ludicrus.

Believe me it does hold up in court. This is called "Intellectual Property" One of these cases was recently written up in , I think, Quilters Newsletter. Some designers will not give you permission for other then your own use that doesn't include shows or selling of the quilt. Thats only if its copyrighted.

copyright issues --- here we go again!

I thought the reason they put patterns in the magazine was so we could all make our own versions, and I had no idea we couldn't display them.

There was a big "to-do" over the Cricut machines a while back about stuff like this. They had a so-called "angel policy" that was total bull. This site explains it all:

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/...t/Cricut.shtml

It tells a lot about copyrights and the laws concerning them. Very interesting.

yup I did and am really rethinking my renewed prescription. More of a reason to design your own or use blocks that have been around.

Oops, here's a neat typo: prescription instead of subscription and I agree, I do prescribe quilting as a great therapy :) Oh, and you don't need my permission to print this reply ;o)

As quilters, we gather information and inspiration from so many sources I have to wonder if any of us can make something truly original. Even if we design our own quilts, haven't we been influenced by what we've seen previously? I understand the protective nature of copyrights, but it all seems to have gone too far. :?

I like to make my own patterns. I have found it really easy to recreate antique quilts from some in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln collection. I wrote to ask permission to recreate for my own use. It was granted immediately. I have a great quilt (the B/W on this post), it's not copyrighted by anyone and I can show it anywhere I want.

Linda there was some info on another link that was about this topic
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-55879-1.htm

I particularly think you should read the two comments/links posted on page one by scissor queen

Money talks. I dropped all quilt magazine subscriptions that did not allow a pattern in their magazine to be displayed after I make it. I don't buy quilt patterns that state do not display or sell the quilt you made from this pattern. I buy quilt books for the instructions how to make a pattern. Instructions are legal to use how you want but you can't copy the pages. EQ7 takes the place of all patterns so it's worth buying and learning. I don't mind at all spending my money on fabric instead of designer patterns.

That's a good point about the instructions in books.

I totally agree with Bellaboo - EQ it is!
I still have a problem with their "you have to have internet access" to install/use the program but at least I can do what I want, go where I want, with the quilts I design and make.

lol, well my best friend calls this the 'nanny state syndrome'. We have to be guarded and protected all over the place. hahaha oh I understand what you are saying. As long as folks can look at the stitching and placement, color changes it becomes a personal creation.......no copyright on that, is there. Just name it something different, but if asked, say you got the idea (not the pattern) from a magazine. No reference keeps you open territory, I would think. It would be different if you used a 'kit' and entered that quilt under your own tag. I agree, it is 'interesting'.

Blessings, Ruth

:-)

I really don't have a problem with the copywright cus I don't think I have ever made a quilt exactly like a pattern. A quilt teacher told me once..."Its your quilt, not mine, change whatever you want" and I do. I'm just wondering if this includes if you use the same fabric???? number of borders??? etc. further in the article it said you could sell a quilt made from someone elses pattern...????

Most people wouldn't give a magazine ownership or part ownership of a copywrite anyway. Most of the time it's just for one time use. If McCalls ask for any part of ownership I sure wouldn't be sending them any of my patterns or pitures.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

patterns that are in public domain can be used by anyone for any purpose they want. there is a difference between using common blocks and using someones quilt design. it is what you do with the blocks you make that makes all the difference. there are tons of quilt designs that everyone uses, like log cabin block layouts; barn raising...it is when a person does something totally different and claims it as their own then chooses to share the pattern that the problem seems to come up. when you buy that pattern and make it 'their' way it is still 'their' design, you have to get their permission to show it, you can not 'share' the pattern/design...if your friend wants to make one too she has to buy her own pattern...

Scissor Queen is absolutely correct. Designers cannot tell you what to do with the finished objects made from their patterns. You can even sell them.

There was a big to-do about this on a very popular yarn crafts forum that included an official statement from the US copyright office. It's different in other countries, but in the US copyright only protects the pattern (i.e. you can't drop it during a ticker tape parade or try to sell the pattern as your own). But it does not carry over to the object you make from the pattern.

However, there are those who have a vested interest in making people think differently (ever seen the phrase "for personal use only"?).

So... What about the pictures that are displayed here? This is a public forum, does that mean that those pictures are a violation?

Ok, so here's what I'm thinking, and what I've seen posted on machine embroidery sites:
The Pattern itself is indeed copyrighted by the designer who came up with it.
The Product of the pattern is not "a design" and therefore is not copyrighted.
Correct, we cannot reproduce the Pattern and sell/display/give away/distribute,
but we can do as we like with the Product we make from the pattern.

I have to agree with this. MONEY TALKS. We should stop buying quilt magazines that don't allow us to display or sell what we've made from a pattern purchased in their publication. One more reason to add to my list of why I should buy EQ7.

Another part of a good question.

The pictures of anything are the property of the person who took the picture.

But if you (meaning anyone in general) say for instance took a picture of someone else's pattern, you would have violated the designer's rights. Unless you had their permission of course.

If you post your own picture of your own work, you are good to go.

But if you post a picture from a magazine or someone else's website or the cover of a pattern or book, that's a violation -

Meaning, "If it ain't yours, it's someone else's."

But note: We post and share pictures of quilt shows all the time. No one objects.
I have seen entries at quilt shows where they won't allow pictures taken of their quilt on display. I understand this, but it's a sure thing that with phone cameras, etc, there are pictures taken of Everything All The Time Everywhere regardless of what the quilt owner says.

If it's on show in any manner, it will be photo'd and sent around.

FYI - That's where this question came from

If, as McCalls asserts in this recent article, copyright restrictions are what Mccalls claims they are, then why is it that nowhere on the McCalls web site, or the Simplicity web site, or the Butterick web site, or the Vogue web site, is there ANY mention of restrictions upon the use of patterns?

Of course these companies will lie to you about copyrights. It is in their best financial interests because you will buy pattern after pattern from them. I have not been able to locate a single federal lawsuit about the commercial use of patterns. And I have looked, and looked.

I do not have a copy of the recent McCalls article but when I get one I will deconstruct the McCalls lies on my web site.

McCalls has NO registered copyrights on its patterns. Neither does Butterick or Simplicity. Vogue has some back in the 1950s probably before the copyright office started refusing to register patterns.

I haven't bought a clothing/sewing pattern in a couple of decades,
but when I did, there were on some of them stated restrictions as to how many items could be made from that particular copy of the pattern before another pattern must be purchased;
stated restriction that even though the pattern was multi-sized ( as in Size X-Small thru X-Large all printed on one sheet ) it was forbidden to make more than one size item from the pattern;
and that usage must be limited to home non-commercial items, including not for charity sales.
I do not know what patterns say nowadays.
I hope the restrictions have changed.

As I understand this, credit to the designer should be on the quilt.