Maybe we should post the names of designers who have this "propriety issue" so we can avoid them.

I will boycott those fabrics and I will let the LQS know why- however if I happened to have any of it- I'd cut it up small enough that the fabric would be questionable thereby creating reasonable doubt as to who or what designer and or manufacturer it actually is ..

There, problem solved !

This just makes my jaw drop.

First, I don't think the designer can enforce this...and if it bothers them so much that they can't control the end use, maybe they shouldn't be designing for the retail market.

Second, there just isn't that much money to be made by doing this. Chances are a quilter or crafter (on this board, at least), is buying fabric at retail and just barely making enough on the craft item to make it worth their time and energy. The really big money comes if someone is making thousands of an item and buying the fabric at a discount. At that point, the manufacturer probably knows who they are because they're going directly to them for the discount.

Janet

This (http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/trademarks.shtml) is an interesting article on the ins and outs of trademark protection, and lack thereof. A lot of it boils down to the designers would like it to work like that, but don't have any legal standing. They DO have a lot of money, though, with which to hire bully lawyers to make it seem like they do.

This has been kicked around on many groups over the years. When I buy a piece of fabric, I'm not paying the designer for her copyright, I'm paying for the fabric to use however I choose. If they think so much of their 'original' designs then they need to keep them for their own use.

Could you please give a reference on this newsletter?

I am not a commercial quilter and I have not noticed any writing on the selvage except 'not for children's sleepwear', but I am curious about this.

If the designer's design is bought by a fabric manufacturer, then there must be some limits in that contract which prohibit commercial use of the design by the manufacturer? Or do designers hire textile factories to print their designs? Would that designer have other similar designs which are sold to other manufacturers for general use? Or is this all about intellectual property rights? Why would a designer be sued?

I must be missing the point here, but it doesn't bode well for crafters. From my perspective, tens of thousands of quilts made commercially by factories for resale by WalMart et al are not the same as the cottage industry which is arts and crafts quilts.

I won't be buying any fabric with that on the selvage!

What about purses and other things made from smaller pieces of fabric. Most of my stash came from other people's yardage and how would anyone know what the selvage said. This is another of those nuisance laws that some idiot made up to see how many people would listen. I won't knowingly break any law but what I don't know I can't control. Just my $.02

I will not buy any things which assume the right to dictate what I may do with something I have purchased and paid for.