Question about copyright
04-15-2012, 08:42 PM
#61
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Pacific NW
Posts: 9,556
Lonestar, it sounds like the designer of the product you purchased was burned at some point! I know of one quilt designer who was burned; she designed a quilt, wrote a pattern, and released it for sale. A couple of years later, she discovered a quilt shop was photocoping her written pattern and teaching a class using this pattern. The pattern was a required purchase to take the class, but the pattern was out of print. Did the shop owner contact the designer for permission to photocopy it, or to ask if the designer could reprint it (which the designer would have been more than happy to do)? No. The shop owner photocopied the pattern, sold it, and even claimed it was HER design. I think we can all agree that this was wrong.
It seems to me one of the biggest problems with copyright and quilting is that the legal language the designers have to use to prevent such situations scares the crap out of the rest of us!
It seems to me one of the biggest problems with copyright and quilting is that the legal language the designers have to use to prevent such situations scares the crap out of the rest of us!
04-15-2012, 09:44 PM
#62
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 1,625
This is the only sentence that is true!
04-15-2012, 09:50 PM
#63
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 1,625
This is harassment of the consumer by a few copyright holders and I wish someone would simply file a lawsuit against 1 or 2 pattern designers to get them to stop the harassment. It's illegal, and it hurts the industry. Most pattern designers are sane people who understand it's harassment to include silly restrictions and rules.
04-15-2012, 09:51 PM
#64
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Southwest Kansas
Posts: 4,820
This is in a pattern I bought-
"All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be stored in any retrieval system, or reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without prior written permission from _________. This pattern is for personal, non commercial use of the retail customer only. Quilts made from this pattern are protected by Federal Copyright Law and may not be made for resale or commercial use in any form without prior written consent from ___________. Quilt classes based on this pattern must require each student to purchase their own book. It is illegal for quilt teachers to copy or rewrite these instructions in any way for distribution to students."
I've thought that this is excessive. While I will likely never get beyond beginner in my quilting, it seems absurd that someone can tell you what you can do with a quilt that you made. If that's the case, then this person owns, my fabric, time and hours on my machine.
I could never sell anything that I make. I'm certainly not good enough for that but really? And still more odd, since then, I have seen other patterns for sale that look like the pattern I bought with that statement in it.
Just for me now, I look at these things before I buy a pattern. What happens if you give the quilt to someone and they sell it? What a mess. I would think a designer would want the quilts made from their patterns be sold or given away to help create interest in their work. It seems beyond greedy and I won't buy this designer's patterns again.
This is a great place for information exchange. And sorry for such a long post.
"All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be stored in any retrieval system, or reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without prior written permission from _________. This pattern is for personal, non commercial use of the retail customer only. Quilts made from this pattern are protected by Federal Copyright Law and may not be made for resale or commercial use in any form without prior written consent from ___________. Quilt classes based on this pattern must require each student to purchase their own book. It is illegal for quilt teachers to copy or rewrite these instructions in any way for distribution to students."
I've thought that this is excessive. While I will likely never get beyond beginner in my quilting, it seems absurd that someone can tell you what you can do with a quilt that you made. If that's the case, then this person owns, my fabric, time and hours on my machine.
I could never sell anything that I make. I'm certainly not good enough for that but really? And still more odd, since then, I have seen other patterns for sale that look like the pattern I bought with that statement in it.
Just for me now, I look at these things before I buy a pattern. What happens if you give the quilt to someone and they sell it? What a mess. I would think a designer would want the quilts made from their patterns be sold or given away to help create interest in their work. It seems beyond greedy and I won't buy this designer's patterns again.
This is a great place for information exchange. And sorry for such a long post.
I'm glad I learned not to believe everything I read. About half of what's written on that pattern is right. A good part of it is total garbage. Just because a designer has something printed on a pattern does not make it law. Copyright law does not extend beyond the pattern. Copyright law does not extend to any item made from the pattern. Copyright law is violated when shop owners or teachers make copies of somebody else's patterns and give them away or sell them.
The chances an actual quilt is copyrighted aren't very high. Any arrangement of simple geometric shapes isn't very likely to be copyright able. It's the pictures and instructions that are copyrighted.
04-15-2012, 11:08 PM
#66
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: S. W. Indiana
Posts: 7,484
This is in a pattern I bought-
"All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be stored in any retrieval system, or reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without prior written permission from _________. This pattern is for personal, non commercial use of the retail customer only. Quilts made from this pattern are protected by Federal Copyright Law and may not be made for resale or commercial use in any form without prior written consent from ___________. Quilt classes based on this pattern must require each student to purchase their own book. It is illegal for quilt teachers to copy or rewrite these instructions in any way for distribution to students."
I've thought that this is excessive. While I will likely never get beyond beginner in my quilting, it seems absurd that someone can tell you what you can do with a quilt that you made. If that's the case, then this person owns, my fabric, time and hours on my machine.
I could never sell anything that I make. I'm certainly not good enough for that but really? And still more odd, since then, I have seen other patterns for sale that look like the pattern I bought with that statement in it.
Just for me now, I look at these things before I buy a pattern. What happens if you give the quilt to someone and they sell it? What a mess. I would think a designer would want the quilts made from their patterns be sold or given away to help create interest in their work. It seems beyond greedy and I won't buy this designer's patterns again.
This is a great place for information exchange. And sorry for such a long post.
"All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be stored in any retrieval system, or reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without prior written permission from _________. This pattern is for personal, non commercial use of the retail customer only. Quilts made from this pattern are protected by Federal Copyright Law and may not be made for resale or commercial use in any form without prior written consent from ___________. Quilt classes based on this pattern must require each student to purchase their own book. It is illegal for quilt teachers to copy or rewrite these instructions in any way for distribution to students."
I've thought that this is excessive. While I will likely never get beyond beginner in my quilting, it seems absurd that someone can tell you what you can do with a quilt that you made. If that's the case, then this person owns, my fabric, time and hours on my machine.
I could never sell anything that I make. I'm certainly not good enough for that but really? And still more odd, since then, I have seen other patterns for sale that look like the pattern I bought with that statement in it.
Just for me now, I look at these things before I buy a pattern. What happens if you give the quilt to someone and they sell it? What a mess. I would think a designer would want the quilts made from their patterns be sold or given away to help create interest in their work. It seems beyond greedy and I won't buy this designer's patterns again.
This is a great place for information exchange. And sorry for such a long post.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I abide by these rules (cough, cough). I make a quilt. On down the road, I die and my family has an auction. AND THEY SELL THE QUILT! Is this writer/designer going to track them down and send the family and the auctioneer to jail? Does this sound stupid? My point--------it's stupid.
04-17-2012, 03:33 AM
#68
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 1,625
Tabberone said: "The US Supreme Court stated in 1879 that copyright protection in a pattern does not extend to a dress made from that copyrighted pattern. Then, in 1908, the US Supreme Court stated that a copyright owner cannot invoke restrictions on use of a copyrighted article by printing those restrictions on the article, it required a contract between the parties. A contract requires agreement between the parties before the transaction. And the federal courts have long maintained that the owner of a copyrighted article loses control over that particular copy once it has been sold or given away.
"No permission is needed to make and sell articles. Only ONE copy of a pattern is needed to make more than one article. And the copyright protection that is automatic under the law is the protection of ownership, not enforcement of the copyright. A copyright MUST be registered with the copyright office before any civil action can be initiated. The exclusive rights provided under copyright law do not become effective until after it is registered because if it cannot be enforced in court then there are no rights simply upon fixation.
"We have researched thousands of federal court cases. There are no federal court cases that have gone to trial over the use of a pattern to make and sell articles. The closest one was from the 1930s where a designer had copyrighted a drawing of a dress. The designer then tried to sue someone who making copies of the dress to sell. The federal court in New York rejected the claims saying that it was the drawing of the dress that was copyrighted, not the dress itself. And that is consistent with federal decisions on other copyright matters.
[end of quote]
Thank you Tabberone!
04-17-2012, 04:14 AM
#69
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 1,625
The important thing to remember in all this silliness is to show kindness (speaking mostly to myself here, it's so easy to get fed up after repeating myself a gazillion times and blast away, LOL) It's only a few pattern designers that need to be informed. The majority of pattern designers understand the truth. I've been harping on this for 15 years now... oh my gosh, has it been that long???
04-17-2012, 05:06 AM
#70
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Fort White, Fl
Posts: 2,689
I think that you will be fine. These copyright laws are somewhat unclear for all of us but, if you found this design on the net or bought it then you have a right to do with it as you please. I know others disagree but once something is published then it can be used.
As for asking us instead of lawyers. we probably know more about quilt copyrights than they do.
As for asking us instead of lawyers. we probably know more about quilt copyrights than they do.
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