from some I have read you can sale them as long as its not mass production. You bought the patron. it is now yours.

if you relay in doubt all you have to do is don't make it exactly like the original if you change it up just a little they can't say a thing because it is not an exact copy it becomes your design. no quilt is perfect

This is most defintely not true. It is called a "derivative work" and is a copyright infringement unless your work is substantially different from the original. See http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf for a description of derivative works.

This brings up something I have wondered about. With all the designs out there, how can you be sure a block you have designed is truly your design? It would be pretty embarrassing if you say you designed it and someone says it is actually such & such design.

From the FAQ page of the U.S. Copyright Office:

"Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work."

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/fa...l#what_protect

Lots of info at their home site:
http://www.copyright.gov/

Patrice, I agree with you and I will take it a step or two further. When someone copys a pattern to share the local quilt shop is not selling a pattern, in turn they are not purchasing from a distributor or the designer. Consider purchasing your own patterns as your help to the economic stimulus our country needs.

Remember support your local quilt shop or you may not have a local quilt shop to support.

Longarm

[quote=stitchinwitch]This I think is totally wrong!

I have seen a lot of patterns on Ebay that were actually pages of a past magazine neatly cut out and placed in a plastic sleeve, and then sold. How does this fit in with the law?

That's exactly what I was trying to say - the magazine company was NOT terribly concerned tho.

Hmmm....isn't that odd? :?