OK, I won't quote you. I've read most, if not all of these sites and I get lost in the legal aspect of it all. I personally have never violated the copyright of any quilt I've made that I'm aware of. I only make for family and freinds and charity. I've never shown a quilt or sold one. I just want to be informed "just in case". Any pattern I have is just used as a "reference" or "inspiration". I've never followed a pattern completely and probably never will. Anyway, I will go back and re-read those sites and hopefully get a better, more clear understanding. I think they try to confuse us on purpose.

you may be right. :lol:

One thought I just had on this subject. A lot of guilds have library's for the members to use. This, I believe, does infringe on copyrights. I wonder if that could be gotten around if guild funds would be used for purchasing books for their library? But, then, I guess I'm just opening another can of worms with this subject. Unless the members don't use the books to make items to sell, only for personal use. Aaargh, I guess this is a never ending subject.

Hmmm, you just brought up another great point. I've looked at quilt mags and books in the public library. How can they get around it. I've seen many people check out a book or mag and make a copy of a pattern to use. Sounds like this is definitely against the law.

there must be a provision in the law that protects libraries because the practice is universal.

i'm not a library, so i don't need to know. :lol:

But it would be a good piece of information to know for those of us who do use the library. Does anybody know how libraries get around this or if they do. I would assume if you check a book or mag out of a library, you are able to use it just as if you purchased it yourself. They are there to use after all or are we just supposed to read them and not use them? Hmmm, maybe I will give my local public library a call and ask them. Will let you know what I find out.

go straight to the source for an accurate answer?

what a radical concept!!! :lol:

This is a whole different ball game. Public libraries have oodles of quilt books. Do you think they have to worry about how people are going to use the patterns from the books?
I can tell you for an absolute fact, they don't!
And your tax dollars, just like everyone else's pay for these books.

:?

OK, I just got off the phone with the legal dept. of my local public library and he said under the Fair Use Act that yes, you can check out books, be it cookbooks, carpentry books or even quilting books and magazines and use the patterns from these for personal use. He didn't know, however, about photographing it and posting it online. He said he personally wouldn't recommend it so you don't end up a test case for a lawsuit, however, he said as long as you referenced the book/mag/designer/creator you should be ok. He was also unclear about "derivitives". He also recoommended contacting a copyright lawyer directly and get their take on it because there is just too much uncertianty regarding it and he didn't want to misdirect me.

He also reiterated you cannot check a book or mag out of the library and make copies of it to share with friends or groups and that you can't mass produce any item from said book or magazine. This is a given, we've already established this.

He also did not know any of the particulars regarding showing said quilts in fairs or competitions.

This is from the legal dept. of my local public library. If you will notice, a lot of this is common sense information and some of it is "in his personal opinion". Again, his recommendation is to contact a copyright lawyer and consult them. It could be on a case by case basis. I may try this next. Will let you know what I find out.

I never got a response from a lawyer, but I did Google it and basically I'd say we've covered the issue every way there is to cover it. Use common sense and if you are not sure, find out. If there are copyrights to something, just don't use it if you are afraid you are infringing, or get permission. Basically, I'd say that's it. If you are planning on selling a quilt, copying a pattern or showing it in a fair or show, contact the owner/publisher/designer/creator and get permission. Basically that's it in a nutshell.