Now that I use XM radio, I no longer buy (tapes) or CD's. When I did, it was for personal use. I couldn't even give a copy away. If I wanted to use the music for a private party it was OK. But if I was paid to D.J., I had to pay royalties on the use of the music. Software programs are the same way. Now fabric. We all like it when we get a positive cash flow, and so do the musicians and designers.
Like many of you, I wonder if it is merely a "royalty" on top of the money they have already gotten for the design, or if it goes to some intangible beyond that. I'd like to know how designers get their payments for their work. My guess is that they receive pay when the original design is accepted, pay for each product use, (scrapbook paper, wall paper, fabric, sheet sets, poster print, etc.), and percentage of each sale of the various products. As for our purposes, fabric, I think the cash flow to the designer should stop when the store buys the fabric. It is easy to trace to that point, and no further. Licensed prints are fairly easy to spot, and an explanation for that use has already been provided. However a somewhat geriatric pattern of leaves, cut into pieces and sewn into a table runner, sold at a flea market or church fundraiser is going a bit far. If you are selling in quantities which requires a business licence, then perhaps the designers could hold you accountable. We really need legal clarification - in layman's terms - on this one.