Love your quilt Swan!

K x

Thanks k3n. That's all that's left of it, pictures. One of the things my daughter packed away never to be seen again. :cry:

Swan Song, I can relate. I actually confronted one person who copied my art (it was not a quilt) and she blew me off saying I had "inspired" her. Imitation is not always flattery, especially when the work is taken out of context. If you see that your work is being used inappropriately, follow up on it, but most people will play dumb and say they didn't know

Some people would never walk into a store and take stuff without paying, but think it is just fine to help to anything they see online. Then, they are cluelsss about who or where designs come from. As if that isn't enough, they pass the designs on to others without attribution, or post as if it was their own work.

This copy right buisness sounds like confusing lawyer talk. If I buy a pattern at the store it is now my pattern,right? just as if I buy a couch, I can sit in it, jump on it or change the color because it is mine.....ask the government because they made me pay taxed on it. If an artist sold their idea to a company it would seem it no longer is theirs. They have me afraid to hang it in my window without a sign in my yard saying their name. Does this sound like anti-lawyer talk. I have 4 of them in the family Joanne

I guess our laws are probably a little different, and I have to admit I haven't studied them a lot.

Laws aside, it does seem plain good manners to mention if you have copied a pattern or were inspired by someone else's work.

Many patterns you buy here have a note by the designer saying you cannot sell the finished product (quilt, bag, whatever) without permission from the designer.

There is a local designer who does amazing work here, and she has in her patterns that you can make and sell 5 without having to ask, as long as she is acknowledged as the designer.

Joanne, you are right if you buy something it is yours to make. That's why people publish their patterns. You can make it any color you want, you can give it to whomever you want. What you cannot do in most cases is mass produce it, sell it and make a profit without the designer's permission. You also cannot represent it as your design. Your work in recreating it yes, your design no.

As far as an artist selling their design to a company it depends if she/he also sold the copyright to the design. If they did then the company now owns the rights to the design. Same deal as above except now it's a company not an individual.

My issue with the wall hanging was not that it was reproduced, the design is in the public domain. I don't own the rights to a Double Irish Chain. The centers however were not. The logo there was reproduced from the website I put up for the club and from pictures taken of the logo and then used to generate money for different individual's "causes" (there were many :? ) after also removing my signature from the drawing. I used it only as an example of the differences in something being in the public domain and something not. I really didn't mean it as any more than an illustration of that and how an artist can be hurt.

Do I have a problem sharing? No. I produced it initially to be used to generate money for The American Spaniel Club. I did not however relinquish my copyright to the club. I gave them permission to reproduce it for the purpose of promoting their show and raising money for the club at that show (and they made a bunch). After that the art work was mine to do with as I wish. I lived and learned. Frankly, I wouldn't have been so angry if my signature had not been removed or if they had at least asked.

I think this has gotten way off the original topic though. I think the OP wanted to know why people didn't cite the pattern or book or whatever they used for the inspiration for the quilts they have posted here. I for one think it is a good idea to cite what design or book you used. Not for copyright issues but just so others whom you may have inspired to know what you used so they can find the pattern or book.