Won't be buying any of that material. There are other great materials to chose from. Thanks for the heads up.

I agree with ptquilts, not only will I not buy fabric with that marked on the salvage, or fabric from that designer and manufacturer, but I will tell the store that I am not going to buy from any designer/manufacturer that does that. It is ridiculous to tell us we can't sell a quilt with fabric that we purchased legitimately from the store!!!:hunf:

We all have the power to walk away from products by not buying them. This will send a strong message. I currently don't sell my work but if I decided to I wouldn't want to have to worry about this. Thanks for the heads up!

Not for commercial use doesn't mean it is against the law to do so, unless the fabric is licensed and then it will have licensed info on the selvedge. It's just a rule and breaking a rule is not against the law. Most rules are written right next or under the copyright law. It looks like it is part of the law.

What about fat qts. The shop cuts them from their bolt. I have never seen the selvage on mine. Then that means the shop owner needs to take care as well.

So I don't forget and use it something I want to sell, I just won't buy any fabric that states "not for commercial use" easy fix for me. Thank you for the heads up:)

Ghostrider: this is what my #1DS told me--the lack of agreement is key. He's in a position to keep up with current events while I try to ignore them.
[quote]These restrictions are not a part of copyright law at all. Contract law, trademark and licensing law? Maybe. Enforceable? Probably not, in my opinion, unless you actually signed an agreement at the time of purchase. If they start printing ‘Licensed fabric - Not for Commercial Use’, that’s when I’ll think about not buying it for use in stuff to sell. [quote]

My thoughts exactly.....

Ok here goes, how would you even be able to tell with precuts? Doesn't the seller have a responsibility here ( if the fabric has this limitation) to advise the purchaser? What about all those online quilt fabric stores? I havent seen any such warnings on their sites? How could this be enforceable?

Well, I will not buy their fabrics. There are plenty of gorgeous batiks, prints and solids out there, PLUS I can dye my own AND design my own using Spoonflower!

what if i can't read? he, he. sigh. not gonna do that.

Seems like they would waste more money than they make chasing up any home based individual they consider in breach of their copyright. Personally, I would rather drink nuclear waste than use Disney fabric (she says hoping not to offend anyone here:)). If I do sell any work (down the track when my skills pick up) I intend to work mainly with vintage fabric. As always, I suggest "vote with your feet" if you walk away from these restricted fabrics the sales figures may get them to have a re-think.

why not cut it off & why do they sell the fabric??? Makes no sense to me . I make & sell things even Disney items all I say its not from disney. never had any problems in the 30 years of selling things.

I just spend the afternoon looking at all of my fabric and there is nothing on the fabric to say its copyright protected I've got a large selection of various designers.

What you heard is different than what they are discussing here. The fabric with team logos is licensed so you are not supposed to buy it...make something...and then sell to make a profit. I think I told the story on the other board about the woman that owned a conignment shop. I had my candles and soap in her shop and she told me that they went to a college football game with all of the stuff her husband made that had the home team's logo on it. They set up their trailer in the tailgating parking lot. They were approached by 2 men and told to either pack it all up...and if they did not then they would pack it for them and then they would be "escorted" out of the parking lot. With hand poured candles...certain names of scents are trademarked. The fragrance oil supplier can sell it to you with the trademarked name on their bottle but...if you pour candles to sell and use the trademarked name...Yankee has a LOT of their scents trademarked...you might get a cease and desist letter from them since there are "spies" at craft shows. But...you won't get arrested...lol. But if you continue using something that is trademarked or licensed after being warned...you CAN get in trouble.

Actually, a lot of fabrics have a C in a Circle on the selvage - it is copyrighted. But not necessarily limited to what it can be used for.

I am probably off in left field - but having worked in products liability - I wonder if it might be more of an attempt to avoid liability if say:

You make a bunch of something with the same fabric and sell them - - and for a strange reason there is discovered a flamability issue - or something in the fabric questionable to children inhaling - get what I am thinking(?) - - in that case they may be trying to limit their liability by saying it is not for commercial use.

Don't flog me - - it just came to mind. :-)

Marysewfun

What next? We can't buy their fabric if we are going to make something with it they consider ugly? Unfashionable? LOL

I would like to say I would not buy fabric with that printing on the selvage. BUT..... I do a lot of my fabric buying online. Is the online store going to tell me that there is a restriction on how I use this fabric? I would be very upset to order a lot of fabric for a quilt which MAY or may not be sold, and then find I can't use it for a saleable item. This can then become a problem for online retailers of these name brand fabrics.

My thoughts exactly!!!

That is the craziest thing I ever heard of.....but thanks for the warning. I had never heard of this, but will make sure I don't buy anything with a selvege with that note on it! I'm actually shocked!

I had just started checking the selvage and see if it says "Not for Commercial Use". I don't usually sell items (couple purses a year). If I was someone that makes things to sell they might be able to track them. :( With the prices designers charge for fabric we should be able to do what we want with it. Anyway I will not be purchasing any.
Thanks for keeping us informed!!!

Just another way to make the poor working people pay!!!I wilkl not buy anymore fabric like this Maybe they w get thehint Thanks for the warning!!!

THANK U for sharing that, THAT makes sense....... if they didnt want it used dont sell it in the 1st place ur using a peice of fabric to create something THAT is urs seriously NO ONE is saying Thats MY fabric I designed its what i used to create. Altho u never know yet another lunisy in the day in age of making mountains out of mole hills & getting something for nothing...

I agree totally with those who have said, let's not buy the fabric from those manufacturers. Obviously they don't appreciate us purchasing their goods and it is in our best interest to purchase from the companies who appreciate our business. I will pay more attention and will not purchase if it says that. Thanks for pointing that out.

I remember that happening when the Elvis Presley fabric came out and I agree with all of you. I will not buy fabrics that have limitations on what I may or may not do with it. Let's stop this nonesense right now or we will have it put on everything we use for our mutual passion.

I buy mostly fat quarters so there is no selvedge. Yeah I could look and find the bolt of fabric the FQ came from but what if it isn't there.

Sometimes I buy from yard sales and thrift stores. I have no idea how long they have had it. I figure if that is all they have to do, is to chase people down that has bought their fabric and try to sue them, then shame on them and they don't need to be in a manufacturing business. They need to work for the FBI.

How about having your customer buy the fabric and you just charging for the time to cut out, piece and quilt it for them, giving you the receipt for the fabric so you can make a copy of it? That might be a good way to bypass this. I was told by an attorney that when the seller of the fabric purchases it from the manufacturer, there is a licensing fee that they pay at that time. How many times do the designers intend to collect a fee for this material?

There is a LOT of chatter about this on the quilt/pattern designer's forum I am on...wow....apparently there are some designers already sueing people. It has the whole industry in an uproar.

This is an interesting subject, but I think there is a lot of over-reaction going on here. We sell some licensed fabrics, and I'm sure some of the people who buy them are going to make articles to sell at craft fairs, holiday boutiques, etc.

There are statements on the fabric to the effect of "not for commercial use -- licensed fabrics."

My take on this, after researching it, is that I as a reseller can not knowingly sell this to someone who is operating a commercial enterprise involved in making these things. HOWEVER -- we don't sell into the wholesale market, we sell into the retail market. What a retail customer does with these fabrics is their business, as far as I'm concerned.

If anyone was buying these fabrics to manufacture goods on a large-scale basis, they'd be buying wholesale, from the same sources I buy them from. I think the warnings are actually placed there as a restraint against wholesalers and distributors selling goods into factories, and I think that's a legitimate purpose.

I've never heard of anyone being sued over selling a few items made with licensed fabric, at a craft fair or other such venue. Sure, a company with deep pockets like Disney might go after small vendors, but even they are way more concerned with counterfeit knockoffs of their licensed finished products coming out of China, etc...

I don't think you have anything to worry about if you're just making and selling a few items, as long as you stay away from Disney and a few other biggies like the NFL and other professional and college sports team stuff.

And as a matter of fact, the most that could happen is that, if someone wanted to push small vendors, they'd be seeking a cease and desist order on you, not having you arrested. Violating a copyright is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. Only when you are involved in product piracy, like counterfeiting an identical licensed product, does it become a criminal matter.

Wow Really
 

Ok, here is just a quiet thought here....think for a minute. Most of us here are just loving, caring quilters who love to spread love right. We quilt to brighten someone's day, or give to charity ok and maybe try and re-coup some funds. We as quilters really do generous things for different organizations, whether to make things to sell as a raffle article to raise funds ect ect...see where I'm going with this...Ok now really some designer is going to take you to task for using their not for commerical use fabric. Hum really, don't you think that all over the world there would be public out cry against the designer. Really I'm pretty sure some lawyer would do a free bono for the quilter/quilters who were being charged for using the designer's fabric. I'm just saying that I don't believe if it was taken that far as being charged for using the fabric for sale of homemade articles would go very far. The designer themselves would find them quickly out of work for sure, because us quilters have a pretty big voice. So for me, go ahead make your move designer see how publically you would be humiluated. I'm sure there will be some who will try and those will be the ones who will be outst for sure.

I'm glad this issue has been pointed out and discussed. I will not be buying the fabric with this selvage warning. I don't sell anything; it's the principal of the matter. If I buy it, it's mine to do with as I please. It would be like Hershey saying we can't sell desserts that has their chocolate in them. I do know that the University of Arkansas has sued for the unauthorized use of their/Razorback logo. But it seems to me if they sale fabric with that logo, they've authorized it. Thank goodness there is plenty of good and pretty fabric out there without them.

Wow...this has turned into a very long thread! Instead of getting all worked up over this issue...I am thinking just about myself. I make items and just rarely sell something I have made...like maybe a Bow Tuck bag that someone "just has to have" or, yes, maybe a few items to sell in a church bazaar or in a local festival. I, personally, am not going to worry over whatever fabric I use for those items...Disney, NFL, etc. I sincerely doubt that there is going to be a representative from a huge company checking out the bazaar/festival in my small community of about 5000 people to make sure all us crafters are in compliance. In the case of Disney...they do not want anyone using their licensed fabric to make items to sell at a lesser price than they can get at their theme parks/stores. They do not want the competition for the almighty dollar. Consumers, on the other hand, many times like better the 'unique' items in the licensed fabrics that they can find at bazaars/festivals and, often-times, can get for a fraction of the cost. Unless one is planning on selling items on the internet or planning to open a brick and mortar store in town in which to sell your items (or setting up a booth outside the entrance to one of Disney's theme parks), I really think you are safe. Again...I think there is an awful lot of over-reacting going on here.

I have heard this before. I will use whatever fabric I want to buy. I don't believe it will hold up in court. But if they want to push it they will lose big bucks in lost sales!

Yeah! I never would agree to that, LOL!

Actually, I read somewhere that famous quilters are "hired" to put their name on various lines and most don't actually design it themselves. The textile companys have "designers" to do the actual work. So who are we infringing on?

Here's a question....What if you make a quilt from this precious/exclusive fabric and you donate it or give as a gift and the reciever sells it in a craft show....then what, your charity or friend gets sued? GIVE ME A BREAK!
ENOUGH ALREADY. I will continue to purchase whatever I like, if I take my quilt to a craft sale, I will just ask for the payment to be a donation to a needy quilter. Has anyone actually seen the fabric design police at a craft show?
I also agree with the position, if a designer doesn't want her design to be cut, redesigned, sewn, ironed, starched, and made into something more beautiful than bolt fabric, then keep the design off the market....Oh yeah, the designers want to make a profit too, imagine that. Quilters ARE DESIGNERS! The fabric we buy is the raw material we use to "manufactuer" our designs. You don't see Swavarski crystal company, or fabric paint companies telling us we can't sell our quilts if we use their "designed" crystals and paint colors.....may be speaking too soon. Isn't this ridiculous......the insanity stops here. I will purchase, redesign and sell...so sue me. Stand up.

Lawyers do have a way of taking the fun out of everything. I gift my creations because I don't think they're good enough to sell, and I agree with most of you - I will NEVER buy fabric that has that on the selvage!

I'm with you dunster! We just want to buy fabric and sew and quilt and maybe sell things once in awhile not have to go to law school to do it! I'll be looking for marked fabric and not buying it if at all possible! Have a wnderful Thanksgiving everyone!

You are so right! Where does the insanity end????????????