bdiver403

It seems to me if someone is going to be this upset about their quilt pattern they made they would put the quilt in a vault never to be seen or enjoyed by others and stop showing pictures of what they have accomplished here on The Quilting Board, or Pinterest, or any other website. By doing this they would have nothing to worry about then.

Onebyone

I've noticed all the newer quilt patterns out now have been created using EQ. It is too easy to re create the same pattern if you have EQ. Add a sashing, or make a square into a hst and you have your own design. That is how I see most new patterns. Just a tweak on something already created.

Dodie

maybe someone else can remember where this was at in another discussion but was on here sometime ago and the person said they were an attorney and that no pattern was copyrighted only the persons instruction and they went on to say this is scare tactics that once you buy the pattern it is yours ---I was compare to an apron pattern hope I have remembered this right but maybe someone else has a better answer but think about it most quilt patterns are spin offs

saor

I worked for a needlework store part-time. The owner was very adamant about copyright, as in she would go ballistic if we owned a book of patterns but then we copied a pattern for someone else without them buying the same pattern. I agree that it is important for the independent artists get something for their creations, but it only applies to the pattern.

For the most part the only reason they are so "strict" is for the companies that want to go out and mass produce their products without giving them any credit (or money).

Copyright law only covers the original work (exact fabric brand, material, color, stitches, etc.), it does not cover the ideas or creative process. That's why a lot of software companies and others are going to patents instead. Copyright only lasts the author's life plus 50 - 70 years, so if you can find a pattern older than that, it is public domain. You also can't take something that is public domain and "copy right" it. (I'm going through this class right now for school).

A good rule of thumb is to change the pattern by at least 30 - 50%, most times this is enough to make it unique and one of a kind. PM me if you have any further questions and I will try to be more specific.

Happy Quilting

auntnana

There is a difference between something having copyright protection and actually being copyrighted. The former is automatic while the latter requires the pattern be registered with the US Copyright Office.
Quilts are legally considered useful articles and do not qualify for copyright registration. It is the design, not the quilt, that has the copyright protection.

The design, not the end product - the quilt, is the subject of the registered copyright. When someone sells a pattern that contains a copyrighted design, they are selling to the purchaser the right to make that article with the copyrighted design. The right of the copyright owner to control what is done with that copy (in this case the pattern) is lost once the pattern is sold or given away.
In Baker v Selden, 101 US 99 (1879), the Supreme Court specifically addressed the issue of whether or not something made from copyrighted information in a book was covered by the copyright on that book. The Court said, "The mere statement of the proposition is so evident, that it requires hardly any argument to support it." The Supreme Court felt the whole idea was so obvious that it took little explanation but it explained it anyway by stating:

A treatise on the composition and use of medicines, be they old or new; on the construction and use of ploughs, or watches, or churns; or on the mixture and application of colors for painting or dyeing; or on the mode of drawing lines to produce the effect of perspective, would be the subject of copyright; but no one would contend that the copyright of the treatise would give the exclusive right to the art or manufacture described therein.

No one can claim that the copyright on instructions on making and/or using an article gives the manufacturer the exclusive right to that article. The Supreme Court then went on to say that is if someone wanted to claim an exclusive right to a product, they needed to apply for a patent, not through printing and selling instructions on how to make the item.

A derivative, a work that has been transformed or recast, must be independently copyrightable. Weissmann v. Freeman, 868 F.2d 1313, 1320-21 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 883 (1989). The original copyrighted work must be changed into a new work in some manner. If there exists a registered copyright, that copyright would be on the design on the quilt. Therefore a derivative of the pattern would have to be a new version of the design. Someone using the pattern to make the actual design is not creating a derivative but rather an exact copy as intended by the pattern designer.


In lay terms, no, the holder of the copyright on the pattern cannot claim copyright to the quilt you made from their pattern. Anyone want to guess what one of my research papers in grad school was on?

carolynjo

This is along the same line, but not about quilting: Did you know that in many states, now, that it is illegal to share seeds from your garden?? It is an arrestable, fineable crime to give seeds away, when heirloom seeds are a wonderful resource that the big seed companies are trying to shut down. I don't want GMO seeds to take over. Think it over; we are being handicapped on every side. There are few truly original quilt patterns around; most are variations on a theme.

Dodie

Thank you for this info

Dodie

Thank you anunranna that was good info I am just going to have fun and enjoy my quiltmaking and forget all of this stuff and if someone wants to buy one of my quilts I will consider my self lucky Happy Easter

auntnana

Crazy, isn't it? I can understand if Monsanto comes out with a new patented corn they don't want you growing, saving, and handing out to everyone in the neighborhood. However, heirloom seeds have been passed from generations to generations. I am not by any means supporting big ag, however, I do also understand it isn't just about the money, it's about the prevention of agriterrorism. One nutso breeds a corn with a hidden pathogen, gives out seeds to 10 folks who gives those to 10 folks, etc. Next thing we know there is no safe corn left. Probably why I save my own seeds!

Just like the quilt pattern topic - if Burpee sells you a Big Boy tomato plant, you can't legally propagate that plant or seeds for resale as a Big Boy, but they can't legally stop you from selling the tomatoes off that plant at the farmer's market. You can't sell someone else's pattern but you can sell a quilt made from that pattern.

Onebyone

We have a plant exchange group in our community. We exchange plants but can't exchange seeds. LOL. What a crock. The plants produce seeds, we just grow seedlings and exchange them. That is okay even though it is completely stupid. The reality is we give away seeds among ourselves away from the group.