if you make quilts/items to sell- a new developement
 

i was reading the newsletter from one of my favorite quilts shops this morning and came to this paragraph:

FYI: IF you are buying fabrics to make quilts and to sell them you need to start looking at the selvage and see if it says "Not for Commercial Use" This means that you cannot make a quilt and sell it without the permission of the fabric designer! There is a lot going on right now with pattern designers and people making quilts using fabrics with this on the selvage. Right now there are some designers that are being sued over this! It's all over the internet right now so just Beware!! It doesn't make sense to me and a lot of people but it's happening now. You'd think the designer would be happy seeing her fabrics in people's quilts but some aren't I guess! Watch your selvages before buying the fabrics if you're going to sell the quilt!


so, be careful- and check those salvages- it used to be we only had to be careful about using someone else's designs---now some of the fabrics are (off-limits too)--licensed fabrics always were off limits- but the rest were ok- not anymore- so,
if you are making to sell- please be sure and request the permissions needed and keep your self safe from legal actions

Well, here's a quick fix - stop buying licensed fabrics. Do they want folks to use their fabrics or not?

yes, they want you to still buy their fabrics---they just want you to use them for personal projects---not sell what ever you make with them.

Yep, lets have a moratoriam on buying their fabric. So far I have not seen any but will check for it the next time I go to my LQS>

sewhappytoquilt-I agree with you!

I don't see how they can enforce this. Let's say Sue bought the fabric from LQS and it had the warning. It goes into her stash, a year later she has one fat quarter left with no selvage on it. She gives or sells it to Pam, who uses it to make a quilt that she offers for sale. She has no way of knowing the limitations.

Also, there is something called First Sale Doctrine. From Wikipedia, "The doctrine allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e., sell, lend or give away) a particular lawfully made copy of the copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained. This means that the copyright holder's rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy ends once ownership of that copy has passed to someone else, as long as the copy itself is not an infringing copy. This doctrine is also referred to as the "right of first sale," "first sale rule," or "exhaustion rule."

I run into this when selling books on Amazon. Sometimes you get a book marked, Not for Re-sale. It is not legally binding for eternity.

I don't even want to think about this. I don't want to argue about whether it's legal or binding or what "commercial" means. I just won't buy any fabric that's marked that way. Ever! And if a manufacturer has one line marked that way and not another, I just might have to avoid that manufacturer completely. So there!

To make life easier for me I will not buy any fabric with that one it. And if everyone did that then the fabric designer would go out of business or change their minds. So sad!

If we all stop buying these fabrics maybe the designers will have to change their policy.
I can't believe these designers want to put these restrictions on their fabric.
Let the fabric stay on the shelves, theres always other fabric to purchase.

In addition to not buying the fabric, let the store owners know you are NOT buying that fabric, and WHY.

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.

I buy a lot of Susan Winget fabrics because they are beautiful; so I just pulled my latest gathering and the selvage says " Sold for Non-Commerical home use only" on all of it. Maybe this is something our LQS and even JoAnns and Hancock's should post in their shops as a warning to the customer. It won't stop me from buying because I don't make things to sell.

Oh, this is a good way too! Yes, if they don't want us to use/sell their product, then I guess they should not have it out for sale!

Thank you for the "heads up"!

I agree with everyone saying they will not buy this type of fabric anymore. I will certainly be checking and will not buy it. Hope we all put those out of business. What a stupid law they came up with. Seems to me this will defeat their whole selling/profit reason for being. :thumbdown:

I don't make things to sell, but I think not buying their product would eventually stop this nonsense.

If I happen to use 2 inches of such a fabric, because ot somehow found its way into my stash , and happened to sell it something made from it ... let them find me ! Really .... If they have nothing better to do!
I do not and would not purchase any fabric that has any restrictions on it .

how exactly are you going to not buy that fabric if you are an online shopper? you can't see the selvedges to know if there is a warning or not!

I just bought some Jim Shore Christmas fabric and when I got it home that's what it said on the edge. First for me and last purchase of that fabric.

When I'l buying fabric for my craft show...I generally will pay attention to this wording on the selvage...I have put back several very cute fabrics this year....BUT...I think some designers have taken this a bit far.

I purchased some Brown and White dotted fabric last week...and it also says "not for commercial use"...excuse me....these are standard little white circles on a solid brown fabric....no designs...nothing... No, I didn't see the wording before purchase, but wasn't looking for it on a basic material...it wasn't even a named designer.

I have cut this fabric up and used it, and I sold everything that I had with that fabric in it, this weekend...

I'm sorry, but, I call the line at trademarking something like that...and I will NOT honor the "not for Commercial use" on something that is a nomal, everyday pattern.

Everybody wants a piece of the pie don't they? I will be watching what I buy!

If they ever figure a way to print selvages on batiks I'm screwed!! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/s...olleyes009.gif

I agree with this! I won't buy those fabrics because I think it's just a ploy to put more money in their pockets!

I think you have to "profit" from your sale before any real problems arise and we all know we rarely profit when we sell quilty items. Just keep saying to their attorney-How did I profit from this use? This is just my thoughts and by no means am I an authority.

this is just getting ridiculous in my opinion. For those of you who actually sell quilts, are you selling so many that restricting the fabric is the soloution? In the grand scheme of things, I don't think the public demand for quilts, and the subsequent sales of such quilts warrents this extreme crack down. I just don't get it, is my perception that far out in left field?

Came across a fabric with that message last summer, after I bought it of course. Went back to LQS & told owner I wouldn't buy any fabric that carries a message like that. She was surprised! Hadn't noticed it when she bought it & said she will check the selvedge before buying fabric for her shop. Kept her word.

I do not make anything to sell, but I will not buy it either. That is ridiculous and I am not going to spend my money to support a designer with such silly rules. We use our money to buy the fabric, our patterns (sometimes other peoples ;)) and hour upon hour to make our own creations. If we want to sell them we should be able to sell them without threats or worry. SHEESH!

I've probably not SOLD more than 10 items in my 64 years on this earth. SO, if one of my fabrics had that warning, it wouldn't affect me. But still I may be wary of buying such.

This is so wierd-- As I was waiting for my turn at the cutting table the lady in front of me was buying fleece with sports team logos on them to make Christmas stockings to sell at her Flea Mkt booth.Another lady said what she was doing was illegal and 'Don't you read the selvedge' blah blah blah and she could be arrested I could not help but to lol at that remark. I figure once its purchased its yours to do what you want..I don't read the selvedge other than to make sure the color code is there But from now on I will make sure to not buy any CFs and to let the store know why.

I have never heard of such a thing! Things are really getting complicated! How silly! Its all about the money ,I think!

Don't buy that fabric. If it doesn't sell the store will stop ordering it. The designer will have what she wants, her fabric all to herself. LOL.