cynicalbeauty

So I have a question. If you make a quilt using a pattern in a magazine, are you allowed to sell it? I ask because I thought that you could, being that you bought the pattern, but my MIL says you can't. I recently saw something in a magazine that if you make a quilt using a pattern in the magazine it can be placed in a show only if the prize is under $1000 and you give credit to the designer. I have never sold a quilt made from a magazine pattern, but I was just curious whether or not there was a law against it.

Skratchie

Typically, you cannot mass produce a quilt from a magazine pattern to sell it, but a single quilt will not be a problem.

Sewnoma

I'm sure others will chime in here in a moment with links and things; but everything I've read says you absolutely CAN sell quilts made from that pattern.

You can't reproduce the pattern itself and sell it. But products you make from that pattern are yours to do with as you please. Keep it, sell it, give it away...up to you.

dakotamaid

I would go by the fact if the pattern is already in the public domain (and the majority are) the only thing that the magazine has going is the colorway and method of sewing. Than I have no problem selling it.

bigsister63

This has been an ongoing topic- copyright issues. I once talked to a person in the copyright dept of US and he said that the seller of the pattern has the expectation that the pattern will be made and the maker can use it as they see fit.- sell, donate, gift. But after 1 quilt is made from that pattern then the quilt can be considered mass produced and that you are not allowed to do.- you bascially need to buy another pattern unless you have permission from the designer.

In all cases it is a good idea to read the publcation ad copyright info in the front of the book/pattern to see what you can do with a quilt made from a pattern.

For other post and comments on this topic do a search!

LindaR

go to the magazines info page and it will usually tell you what you can do, sell, reproduce etc....

ManiacQuilter2

This is always an interesting topic because so much seems so gray to me. I noticed that so many pattern are tweaked a little from other patterns. Most of the quilts I made were using two patterns that were produced by a small LQS. Since I allowed them to photograph my quilts. I never worried about selling them. I even had them for sale in their craft fair. I have always assumed that it is the fear of having items massed produced. I try to change a pattern a bit and then I feel free from any limitation. I don't like seeing the conditions printed on the selvage of the fabric.

Dolphyngyrl

I find it odd that a lawyer would consider 1 quilt as mass produced, That is not what I would call mass produced

Grammahunt

So many people today are copywriting 'old' stuff. Guess I'm old enough now to remember squares and triangles being free to use any way my imagination could take them. It is logical to me that after millions of people over many years using the same basic shapes--why wouldn't two people create the same basic pattern? It irritates me that these things that have been free for decades can now be copy protected.

TeresaA

First, to be clear before I say the rest: It is 100% violation of the copyright to copy patterns. You have a right to sell the pattern you bought, called the first sale doctrine. You never have the right to sell or otherwise distribute copies of it. You can copy it for personal use, say if you need to make 100 paper pieced blocks or whatever. Just being clear before I say the rest.

As for selling the products made, it depends on what the pattern is. If it's based on a block that is in the public domain (as all of the traditional blocks are), and the layout is similar to something that's been done before plenty of times, or it's an obvious design (sampler with cornerstones) then it definitely can't be copyrighted.

If it's something very very unique to the designer, they have some right to control its reproduction, a very, very limited, hard to enforce, right.

I suspect that if you aren't making more than a few of the item, then you're fine, because (1) Unless you use the exact same design and the exact same fabrics, it will be hard to prove in court that you've copied the design and judges tend to lean on the side of gee, it's a pattern!; (2) it would make the magazine look really, really bad to go after a small-time manufacturer when probably a great portion of their reader base is small time manufacturers; (3) The copyright would be ridiculously hard to enforce.

Most patterns allow you to make a few for resale. Outsourcing the design to a Chinese manufacturing plant would be a violation tho....

For individual use, to keep and give away, you can make as many as you want without violating copyright. Or it's unenforceable, as in the pattern manufacturer can't go into our homes and determine how many we've made. Also, if the copyright is hidden within packaging, it's absolutely unenforceable. They are expecting you to enter into a contract for which you don't know the terms. Not enforceable.

I 100% like to support small pattern designers, and I have a huge box of patterns and shelves full of magazines and books to prove it (mostly things I've never made). However, I get tremendously irritated with pattern designers who sell PATTERNS (for gawl's sake) and expect them not to be made. For me, they're in the wrong business. (This is why I never went into stamp crafting. The stamps are ridiculously priced, and they are STAMPS, but you're limited in how many you can make. Geez) If I see a pattern with onerous restrictions, I don't buy it, even though I'm NOT a manufacturer. Instead, I store the picture of the finished quilt, figuring I can likely copy it so it's close enough to the finished design for my enjoyment, while being far enough from the finished design that I won't be violating copyright if I pseudo-copy it. Ideas and inspirations are not copyrightable.

Clothing manufacture can't be controlled at all, because utilitarian items can't be copyrighted. Imagine if The Gap had the copyright on jeans. (Ugh, I'd have to wear skirts!) In that case, no matter how unique, only the pattern itself can be copyrighted. Quilts are arguably utilitarian as well, but not as much of a utilitarian requirement as clothing. Nobody can copyright their shape and use as blankets, but the artwork on the front can have limited copyright.