Question re sharing discontinued patterns...
 

Many years ago I made 4 christmas quilts from Jeana Kimball's Christmas Quilt Block of the Month published by Oxmoor House in 1995. I started the blocks with a group in the town I was in at the time and we got our patterns from our fearless leader as we met each month (I think). Designed my own borders to make them bed sized. And many years later and as kids are settling into their own homes, the last two quilts are getting finished up (those I am still completing with hand quilting 3rd done & gifted this Xmas, & 4th - that son is still vagabonding around the world so not near ready to own a lot of stuff yet. I am thinking I'd like to do 3 more for more family. Before I start asking around to see if anyone would like to quilt along with me in constructing these I did a little research to see if the patterns are still available online or anywhere. I've found that it has been discontinued but have run across a few used ones that seem to run around $30-40 - and on up from there. Don't know that there would be enough even out there available if others are interested in working along with me on this project, or is it OK to share my own pattern if someone can't find a reasonably priced copy. How does that work? Thanks for any help you can give me as I mull this idea over. I'm in the beginning of working on the new BOnnie Hunter mystery for the time being anyway...

The strict answer is that no, it is the instructions themselves that are copyrighted and each person should have their own set. I would suggest you contact the designer directly to see if they have a solution.
http://www.jeanakimballquilter.com/store/

We never know what our members may have in their own collections or what projects they are dying to start.

I used to love those mailings from Oxmoor House... such bright beautiful envelopes hinting at the treasures inside and inside the books/offers.

The written pattern is copyrighted not how to make it. That is why tutorials are legal to show how to make something without using the pattern instructions. You said you got your patterns from the group leader, did she order everyone a pattern and give it to you month by month? If a pattern is discontinued and the designer says it will never be republished that means no profit for the designer at all so why wouldn't she give permission to use one pattern for a group? I would ask the designer's permission just to stay in good karma's way but I'd form my group and let each one decide how to get the pattern.

And what if the designer is no longer on this earth? And the original publisher is no longer in business? How far do you pursue the quest for permission?

Copyright lasts until ( I think) 70 years after death or maybe it’s 70 years after copyright- I think it’s after death though. then becomes part of the * Public Domain *

look up copyright laws to get answers but short answer to this situation is you can not share the patterns for a group project- each person has to have their own pattern

I think as long as you are not making the quilts to sell or charge others to let them make blocks, there should no problem. Quilt patterns are there to be made into quilts. If not, the world is in a big problem. people can figure out how to do things without patterns when necessary. just have fun making your quilt(s).

But she's asking about "sharing" her pattern. Making copies of a pattern for another person's use is not allowed under copyright. (You can make copies of parts of the pattern, e.g. applique pieces, for personal use.) There are lots of these patterns available for sale on ebay and other sites.

Not anywhere to go past that is there? If no payment is made to anyone but to a person who wants to sell a pattern they bought then it's gone far enough.

you cannot legally share copies of the pattern.

if each of the blocks in the layout is from the public domain, or an obvious derivative of something in the public domain you can probably track down instructions for each block. there's a good chance you could even find free instructions if you search diligently.

or you could help each other figure out how to make each block.

Have you tried contacting the publisher? I think Oxmoor still publishes.

Years ago, when eBay was in its infancy and Amazon only sold new books, I found a quilt book I wanted on eBay that was no longer in print. The bidding quickly skyrocketed to ridiculous numbers— 5 times list price— so I decided to try something different. I wrote to C&T, the publisher, to ask if I could pay a copyright fee to allow me to make a photocopy of the entire locally available library book.

A week or so later, I got a call from C&T. They had a few copies of the book they had found stuffed in a corner of the warehouse, but they were somewhat damaged, so they couldn’t sell them for full price. Would I be interested in buying a copy for half price? Why yes, yes I would. Still have the book on my shelf today.