Shelbie

I want to honour and respect copyright which sometimes confuses me. If I see a picture of a quilt,(at a show, in my friend's magazine, on the internet etc.) go home and draft out a similar design using my own measurements, pictures and instructions, can I claim this quilt as my own quilt design or am I violating copyright laws? Should I say that the design was influenced by X's pattern or how do I respect the original owner? Am I able to share my newly drafted pattern with others? This whole issue has me stumped.

luv-e

Good Question??????

crkathleen

I always thought if you redrafted it, it was your own design. But I'm not too familiar with copyrights.

ForestHobbit

Ask Danmar.

Holice

What do you intend to do with the quilt after you redesign the pattern. Why do you need to give credit. Is the quilt to be entered into a show. Did the original look like an original design. If you look at quilts in magazines you might notice that few if any are truly original but just rearrangement of traditional patterns.
Just changing size does not free one from copyright laws. Even the myth of "changing 30%" does not free one. If yours looks like or can be recognized from the original the design is still under compyright. I know this from experience. I talked with a copyright attorney about simple shapes and was told rearrangement of simple shapes does not violate. A classic case a few years ago related to the "Dear Jane" quilt. Someone made one and posted it on ebay for sale and used the name "Dear Jane". Author of the Dear Jane book sued because that name is copyrighted. It was reposted on ebay under the name "in the style of Jane Stickle quilt" which was the original antique quilt.
Go to: http://www.how-to-quilt.com/sylvia.php and then search for Sylvia Landsman who has written extensively about copyright in the needlework industry. The above site is about a conversation with Sylvia.

Holice

That should have been Sylvia Landman

Pam

This is always confusing to me. If you THINK you have come up with something original, how can you give credit to someone you do not know? Example: If I do a quilt of a lily, can anyone who ever made a lily quilt come after me?

craftybear

be careful on copyright

Ada Shiela

Well done Holice with your info - in this electronic day and age "intellectual property" is very much in the news - copyright always remains with the original artist who came up with the idea - sometimes we need a person's/company's permission to reproduce (especially if one intends to sell the item) and, if we vary something with or without permission we must still give credit to the original artist (whether we know the person or not Pam, which is why I named one of my quilts "Anna Bella Variation" though I forgot to include the name of the designer!!)