This topic has been brought up many times and I am so happy to see that it is staying civil.

It doesn't mean anything like that at all. You can buy the fabric, make whatever you want and sell it. What you can't do is say it's an officially licensed product.

I think once you buy the fabric it is yours to make & sell at craft fairs as you wish

I recently bought some fabric with that "restriction" on the selvage and wrote the manufacturer to ask what limitations were on me as the consumer. Basically I can do anything I want - use it in a gift item, sell something I've made from the fabric, sell the fabric in a garage sale, etc., but I CANNOT duplicate the design and claim it as my own or use it in mass-produced items. It is generally a statement to manufacturers that they cannot use the fabric or image in mass-production without permission.

This is not to say every fabric line has the same intention when they put the statement on the selvage, but as said above, it's probably not a problem for most of us. We can continue to make quilts, clothing, accessories, etc. without fear of being tracked down by the manufacturer!

there are quilters who are now only using solid fabric with no manufacturers marks to avoid the unpleasantness of threatened litigation

Disney fabrics have this on the selvage. Yeah, you can use it anyway you want as it says in sissorqueen's link, but are you willing to pay the price in the courts if they start to go after us little guys? If I can't use it any way I want then I just don't support that company/designer. Maybe if more did that then they would stop being selfish....

If it actually got to court their claim wouldn't hold up anyway. You can actually go to court without a lawyer and win too. Read the tabberone site and you'll find that they've gone to court numerous times.

The words "court", "lawsuit", and "subpoena" often strike fear into the hearts of many people. But if one can change their reaction to such terms, and see them as merely actions that a person can take -- like the action of waiting for a credit return to show up on your credit card, or a bill to arrive in the mail at month's end, or the action of applying for a driver's license (or any other license), or registering a birth, car, trademark, etc. -- one will find that it is merely a process of law and not really intimidating at all.

I was sued by my attorney, once years ago following a divorce, for not paying his bill in full immediately. The fool had written my financial statement for the divorce so he KNEW I had virtually nothing with which to pay him in full. He appeared in court in full 3-piece business suit (probably cost him $750 at the time!) with HIS attorney dressed the same way. They pompously stood at one podium before the judge, while little old me stood alone with no representation, properly but inexpensively dressed, at another podium. Ultimately I had to believe in the system because there was nothing else I COULD do. The judge, who MUST have seen how unbalanced this situation appeared, cut the attorney's charge in half and gave me time to pay it!

So the money wouldn't appear to come from my checking account, I went to my attorney's attorney's office with a check written on a friend's checking account for about half the amount the judge had ordered. I presented the check and said I had no more money and only a part-time job. The attorneys took the check as payment in full......ultimately 1/4 of the original charge!!

My point is, if I had quaked in fear of being sued, I would have dragged yet another attorney to court with me after being sued, and ended up with not only the first charge, but a second hefty one as well.

Often it is much easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

Jan in VA

I would think that refers to big commercial product runs using the fabric.

My personal opinion: If I buy fabric, I own that fabric. I never signed a license agreement with the manufacturer.
I just bought yardage and as the new owner I am free to do whatever I want with it. I can make a hat, a superhero cape, or a quilt. And if I decide that I want to sell it, I can do so.

I think we should boycott these fabrics, actually that is what I am going to do.....that is really silly that they would even have such limits on this fabric ! Once you paid for it it should be yours to do as you wish.....