Lisa T

http://www.paulrapp.com/display_article.php?id=6

This was interesting, too.

pittsburgpam

Thanks for the posts. I agree that once I have bought the fabric I can do anything I want with it... drag it in the mud behind my SUV, cut it up into little pieces and put them back together in any way I want, even sell it.

I am making a quilt from Civil War reproduction fabric and all along the selvedge are words like "copywrited", "Protected". Yeah, the fabric is copywrited and protected and I can't go out and start making the same. But, I sure can use the fabric that I purchased, and re-sell it, in any way I want.

The CW quilt is a pattern that I purchased online. I could make 100 of them in all different colors and fabrics and sell them. Does that mean that the designer of the pattern is entitled to money from each of them? Does that mean that I have to buy a copy of the pattern for each quilt I make? I don't think so.

It is ridiculous, IMO. What about a cabinet maker who uses designer hardware? A wedding dress maker that uses designer fabric? Does Vera Wang, when she purchases fabric for a dress, have to pay the fabric designer/manufacturer a percentage of the sales of the finished dresses?

Lisa T

I agree. And it sounds like we are right. When you really get into the wording some of the designers use, they're basically telling or asking you not to sell their designs and it's sort of silly to do that. (And kind of ignorant.)

Now, I totally agree that you can't photocopy a pattern and, say, give it to your quilt guild, b/c that WOULD be copyright infringement. But if you make a quilt for each member of your quilt guild using a pattern, THAT is fine. And it seems like a lot of pattern designers are saying you can't do that. Some of them also say that you can't take a picture of a quilt made with their pattern and put it on a blog or whatever. (That looks to be a bit more of a gray area, however- the photo part is not covered by the "useful item" clause.)

Interesting reading, huh? I hope nothing like that happens to me. It's unlikely, b/c I just have a small blog and I rarely use patterns anyway, but it's fun to read about all the drama that happens to other folks.