What you learn on the Internet stays on the Internet?
 

There is a current discussion on this forum regarding "what you learn in class stays in class" and rather than stir the pot in that discussion, I have another question.
I am curious about what are the rules/laws about things you learn from a youtube video, a written tutorial, or blog on the internet?
If I see a tutorial (whether video or written)for something like a technique, a sewn item, a quilt, or anything that you can make, am I allowed to make a limited number of those items and sell at a quilt guild show boutique? Can I do a demo on making those items for my guild members? and with giving credit where the idea came from, without violating copyright laws?
I understand that I can not pass those off as my own original idea, I can not mass produce them and sell at a profit for myself, I can not write up a pattern and sell it as my own (although I have seen it done) etc.
Thanks in advance!

People seem to get a bit confused mostly about ( for personal use)
technique videos - you learn a technique, it is not copyrighted. You can teach others the technique, but out of respect share where you learned it. You can make what ever was shared, as many times as you want. If you plan to sell the items you should find out who the designer is and ask permission to sell the item, giving credit to the designer. You should never ( unless you have permission in writing) copy, share or sell someone’s pattern/ designs.

the video and its content are still protected by copyright law.

Here’s a good graphic guide to copyrights. It was written for polymer clay crafts, but is perfectly applicable to quilting...
https://thebluebottletree.com/copyri...-clay-artists/

If someone is showing you how to do it they are sharing their knowledge with you and if they did not want it shared I would expect they would tell you not to share it with anyone.

Jenny Doan does tutorials of copyrighted patterns. Nothing illegal about it. Do people actually spend time pondering all this do or don't do stuff? Just use common sense and good manners.

I believe it is our ethical obligation to ponder it.

I have seen patterns for craft items that say they don't want you making items from the pattern to sell commercially. And I have seen videos of people making things and they don't care if you make items to sell like their pattern. Most quilting patterns are very simple. I personally would make up my own designs to sell if I were going to do that but I don't really have an interest in that as there are so many people doing that already. Most of the time when I am walking around flea markets & craft shows I consider whether I like something or not more than I think to ask them where they got their design from and if they are copying someone else. I am not the craft police. If you design something and don't want people to copy it then it is up to you to do something about it, not me.

I"ve seen people make an item from a pattern, turn right around and do a tutorial on it. always wondered about that.

I have never watched a tutorial or video about quilting online and thought I should be pondering if it was ethical. A good video or a dud is mostly all the thought I give one. LOL

Evidently everything is up for grabs.....including my social security number and credit card. No one ever gets prosecuted. I would say if you want to make a quilt or use a technique that is on the web, go for it! I would give the artist or instructor credit if selling the item. If it is for my own enjoyment, absolutely no worries. Some people put "copyright", when they don't have one. Always good idea not to copy printed patterns. Support the designers and purchase their pattern. What you do with the creation afterwards, is your decision. Just don't use Disney images and try to sell them. If a company has a copyright and happens to notice your items at a Fair or bazar, normally, they just ask you to stop selling. Usually the Copyright Police are more interested in the Louis Vuitton knock offs being sold than quilted crafts.

I have often wondered where the "DearJane" book (and associated items) is on this spectrum.

I will mention again the "Just Wanna Quilt" podcast. The host is a law professor very interested in copyright law as it pertains to quilting.

I would suggest you always try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. How would you feel if someone ripped off material that you considered proprietary? Be honest with yourself about each situation and let your moral compass guide you. When it comes to YouTube tutorials I believe these are fair game. The creator of the video is being paid per view and also for any ads being played. But the main purpose of YouTube videos is self promotion. For example non blueprint Angela Walters machine quilting videos.....free, no ads....but promoting her personal brand and products (rulers for example). For myself her videos have helped me quite a bit and so I made a point of purchasing one of her books and a couple of her rulers. Being a former business owner maybe I look at things in a different light.

you'd only need to ponder if you were considering creating your own version of it to share or sell to others.

not so.
plagiarism is wrong.
regardless of the source or format.

I should have been a bit more clear. I am not talking about copying a pattern and selling it as yours. An earlier conversation was about sharing information with others which you have gleaned from other sources. This whole topic could become a real rabbit hole.....for example is it wrong to give a purchased pattern to a friend once you are finished?

as long as you give her the complete original and do not keep a copy for yourself.

I donate or give away quilts. I have some I keep for myself. Most I make up my own pattern, don't even write it down. I don't sell quilts, too much hazzle.

"I believe it is our ethical obligation to ponder it."
Really! Why? As has been pointed out before, a technique is not copy-writable.

Here is my 2 cents for what it is worth. If I know of a technique that could help a fellow quilter to get better results and they ask me for help I am more than willing to offer whatever help I can. Once a technique is in my head, I am doing really good to remember that, it is very doubtful I will remember if it is something I thought of, have always known, was shown to me by another amazing quilter, was read online, or in a book, or seen in a video. I have a big and full life full of quilting and non quilting stuff, and limited space in my brain, those are not details I am going to remember down the line of time.

A pattern is only copyright if the owner, designer, developer, etc., filed for a copyright, paid the fees and most likely hired an attorney to navigate through the system. Most patterns are not copyright, it is an expensive and lengthy process. Patterns that are copyright will state it on the patterns with the date it was copyrighted as well as some wording like all rights reserved. Other patterns that are not copyright may have some wording stating for personal use only, cannot be copied or distributed without permission from the designer.

Many years ago I started work in the field of advertising, I learned a lot about copyright and ownership in it's various forms, and as a quilter (and a musician) I've been most interested in the "personal use" part of it all.

As far as quilting goes, you can see anything you like and make a direct copy for yourself or be inspired by it and make an original copy or turn it into an original design. The problem comes then with what happens next. If you show it, you should credit the originator. As already mentioned some patterns already come with the disclaimer about not to be used for re-sale. Some times that actually means the pattern itself, other times the end project. The typical home sewer does not need to worry so much about that, but yeah -- if you take someone else's work and creativity and then make a business out of it you might just morally owe someone for that even if the legal claim isn't quite as good and often the legal claim is very good.

Because the amount of change required to make something "original" varies. Just using different fabrics could be enough. Slight changes can be enough, or not enough if it is really distinctive. For example, I drew up a Hazel Hedgehog that's slightly different mathematically from the design by Elizabeth Hartman. But I know it is completely based on her design and that's the only reason I did it, so I bought the pattern I figured it was only fair.

Or recently here on the board I helped someone redesign a block. Although I am fully comfortable that the way I resized and redrew the block and wrote the very different directions was an original product, again, the only reason we were doing it was to copy something someone else did and I elected not to share those publicly.

I was at a quilt show yesterday and much to my surprise there was a quilt there that was the same block as one of my current projects. That quilter gave credit to the pattern used, while I know the block as a traditional/free use (no one can copyright a traditional block, we can all make churn dashes if we want!). But her project was very different than mine in colors and placement. If I decide to show my quilt I won't be attributing it to anyone but myself.

I know there have been original works of mine that I have seen later done very similarly by someone else. Great minds think alike after all. I have some projects of mine that are original and I hesitate sometimes to post pictures of them, I don't mind sharing the idea at all -- but I would mind someone taking that and turning it into a commercial pattern.

Copyright/intellectual property does matter to each of us, whether it is pirating or performing music or in quilting. But there are just so many notes and so many ways to fit triangles and squares together :)

the issue is not techniques.
the issue is whether or not we can plagiarize a video, tutorial or pattern written by somebody else.

why are ethics important?
really?
if you ask this question, the answer will always fall on deaf ears.:hunf: