copyright rules
 

I don't understand the copyright rules. If you use a pattern when does it become a copyright issue? Can make copies to give to others? Does it have to do with selling the pattern?

you can not legally make copies to give or sell to others.
each person needs to buy their own.
if it's a free pattern, each person still needs to acquire their own unless the author/publisher grants permission.

You can sell a pattern but can't make copies to sell or give unless its your own design. Some patterns have rules that aren't illegal to break but all have copyrights that are illegal to break. Rules are usually right next to the copyright and consist of the buyer can only make one item with the pattern, the buyer cannot show the item in public or sell the item made from the pattern. etc.

I can give you a quilt made from a pattern that I have used to make several times if I want I can even sell a quilt made with a copyrighted patter but it is nice to acknowledge the author of the pattern.

You cannot make copies to give to others. You can give them your copy, or they can buy their own.

Imagine being the designer who created the pattern, wrote down all the instructions step by step, took photos, tested the pattern, re-wrote the pattern including any corrections and clarifications, printed them, packaged them, and distributed them, then you find out a quilt shop was copying the one pattern they had purchased from you and was selling them full price. Yes that really happened.

All is right. You purchased one copy and one copy alone of the pattern. Thus, you can't make additional copies for others, although it's considered "fair use" if you make yourself an archive copy or copies for your own paper piecing purposes, etc. Under a rule called "The First Sale doctrine, though" you can sell or give away that one copy of the pattern that you bought. But selling or giving away the pattern means you can't keep copies of it, even the archive you made, etc.

As far as quilts go, quilts are considered utilitarian goods, and utilitarian goods aren't copyrightable. The quilts you make in general with the pattern are yours. You can press against some grey area, though with art quilts. Sometimes they can be copyrightable. So it's best to try and abide by the rules that the pattern designer set forth....although sometimes the stipulations are completely unenforceable and are beyond the pale unreasonable, like stipulating that you can only make one quilt with their pattern and you have to rebuy the pattern for each additional quilt you make. That would never hold up in any copyright court.

You really are not supposed to make copies for friends. It’s ok to make the pattern multiple times for yourself or gifts for others. It is not ok to sell them in a home based business.

You can sell as many of the items you made as you want of the same pattern. You just have to buy as many patterns as the items you sell. Make ten quilt using one pattern, buy ten patterns. Simple and legal.

where did you read that?
i am not convinced that is correct. :confused:

I believe you are mistaken. The "fair use" doctrine says the copyright holder cannot tell you what to do with something once you purchase it. Once you pay for it, you can use it any way you want. (You cannot make copies of the pattern itself to sell or give away, however.) They have a copyright on the pattern (the paper itself), not what you make with it.
For instance, you can buy a Grateful Dead t-shirt and make a dress out of it and sell it. You cannot reproduce their logo on a garment and sell it without their permission, though. If you buy the t-shirt, it's yours and they have nothing to say about what you do with it.
Oftentimes, a quilt pattern maker will say you cannot sell an item made from their pattern. They specify that on the pattern. It's impossible to enforce even if it were true, but it's not. I once returned a pattern for a wheelchair quilt that specified that on it. I don't sell quilts, but was offended that someone was attempting to restrict a perfectly legal use of their pattern. (I did not make the quilt, but could have made it without the pattern, anyway.)
bkay