I always pick up magazines from the store instead of subsribing but will not buy them if that statement is in there. We pay for the magazine so why can't we use the patterns the way we want I thought that was the whole idea of the patterns. Gosh what is this world coming to!

Many valid points above !!
Let me throw a rock in the pot !! Have paid for internet services, and it seems like very little is private if on line, Many patterns are years old, the work and effort should count for something, are painters under the same CR for painting a blade of grass.

OK out my spoon comes.

I knew I would be starting something again and sure enough, here we go again. I'm glad tho, cause I want to help get the word out that I agree with everything everyone has said. Most patterns are in the public domain and we should be able to do whatever the heck we want to with the patterns we buy. After all, we bought them, that makes them ours. Now, I also agree that if it is truely an "original design" the designer should have some control over it, but lets get real here. How many designs these days are truely original? I'd say very few to NONE. Make what you want and do with it what you want. Don't support those who try to suppress your creativity and control what you do with it. My opinion only. Take it or leave it!

Wait until you get into machine embroidery.....copyrights up the kazoo. They monitor what is selling on ebay and craig's list and will come after you if you innocently buy a design. Luckily many are extremely generous with free designs. Buyer beware.

They can sue, but there is nothing for them to take...

Even on some of the sites that we are all very familiar with there are statements about limiting use of the patterns provided there for free...I recently found a block I really loved, but it said I couldn't use it for a class. Guess what...I Googled the name of the block, and I found a pattern from the 1930s of that same block with the same name. I used that block for the class, because I took the "public domain" pattern instead of the one posted with limitations. There are ways around these things. You have to find an alternative source of the block pattern that is old enough to be public domain. Not as hard as it appears. Be creative!! Get a sketchbook and colored pencils and start designing your own. It's really not that hard.

The issue has always been who owns the property. There is a name for it but I am too tired to remember. A good movie/book adressing it is Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead". The person who owns it can put any use limitations/restrictions they want. As someone suggested, best design your own or live with the restrictions. Essentially when you buy a design(emb. ) you can't change that much of it,claim it as your own or sell the design. This why they have copyright lawyers. Follow the money.

Should we be careful when we purchase food. Might be in small print for "FAMILY USE ONLY". Would that be cheating if we had a guest for a meal?
Some people get to techinal with patterns.

I've been designing for 27 years, and have had to familiarize myself with all of this stuff. I see a couple of things in these threads that worry me.

Copyright doesn't need to be complicated for most people. If you are using someone else's work (be it patten, quilt, or picture of either) - they created it, and it is theirs. I respect their wishes or don't use it if I disagree. Very simple. Re-creating it in EQ, changing a few things, calling it inspiration - doesn't matter, and doesn't change the reality that it is based off of someone else's work. It just shows why designers are becoming more serious about protecting their work. I keep seeing 'who will know' and 'let them sue.'

Copyright is complicated for those trying to protect their work - it can easily get out of the artist's control and cause them to involuntarily loose their rights. One very real aspect of this is people showing quilts at shows and not properly crediting the designer - allowing others to think it is completely their work. We have to diligently defend our copyrights to keep them because of the very 'borrowing' and attitudes that have been detailed in these threads.

I have never seen or heard of a designer being unreasonable when approached about having a quilt shown in a quilt show. Permission to copy for 'guild use' or other uses is dangerous territory - it can so easily be misused. Some quilters are ruining it for everyone.

I believe that we are seeing more public domain blocks used because, quite frankly, a truly original design is nothing more than a headache, and more designers are keeping them to themselves rather than fight with all this. I know I am.

Eventhough I feel the prize and any money should go to the person who payed for the hand quilting the credit should definitely go to the actually person who quilted the quilt. I always see labels that state designer, who pieced it and who quilted it. How can you pretent you quilted it when you did not.