DID YOU READ THE COPY RIGHT ARTICLE IN MC CALLS

[Bonnie J.]

DID YOU READ THE COPY TIGHT ARTICLE IN MC CALLS
sEPT - OCT pages 54-55

I article discussed use of magazine patterns in relationship to copy right.

I personally think they have little room to complain as they persist in taking royalty free blocks that can be found in multiple sources ( EQ6/ BLOCK BASE/ BLOCK ENCYLOPEDIA / etc) They take these blocks write instructions and then claim the quilts as their own creation. The public is suppose to write to them to request permission to use the " PATTERN" to make quilts to display/ show in quilt shows/ raffle off to raise funds.

I have not seen original patterns that do not have the basis in traditional blocks. As for directions in the magazines I usally find them incomplete and inaccurate.

Why do quilters bother to buy magazines if the quilts they make from the patterns are not to be sold or used as the maker wants. The magazines are full of advertisements and the quilts are rarely of orginal designs.... just a rehash of traditional blocks made to sell fabric made by the advertisers,

I am sorry but even if I buy a pattern (as required by most classes) I do not make it like shown by the designer. I learn the techniques and go my own way.

If I see an original pattern I will honor the originator but the majority of blocks are to be found in traditional royalty free sources... there are over 4000s of them. I do not think I have seen any patterns/ blocks that are original in the past 5 years... Have you ??? What were they???

JUST MY OPIONION...

Just a little ticked at magazines... can ya tell?



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[Lorna B.]

I was also taken back about needing to ask permission to use a published pattern in a quilt show. I understand needing to give credit where credit is due, but that is not how I understood the article.

Sorry Sue. Forgot to do that with the 2008 BOM.

[Susan B.]

I think you're right when it comes to quilts with "blocks", especially after seeing Jenny Beyer's block book and Barbara Brachman's book on applique. It seems like everything should say "based on a traditional pattern."
Now, with art quilts... there's the originality.

I don't particularly want my tax dollars going to the copyright/patent office to license quilt patterns of iffy origins, Oops, is this too political for the forum?

[Susan B.]

For those of us who haven't got a copy is it a) online? and b) possible to supply us with a link?

Thanking you

Rosemary

[Judith R.]

I've read the article as well. What surprised me was the fact that you aren't even supposed to post pics of the quilts you made from the patterns on blogs or other websites without asking permission from the magazine company or the designer. IMHO, that seems to be carrying the copyright a bit too far. Quilters want to share pics of the quilts they've made...but it seems without persmission you can post pics only if you design the quilts yourselves. Unfortunately, not everyone who quilts is cut out to be a designer. And going to the trouble of getting someone's permission in order to post a pic of a quilt I made would discourage me from sharing.

[Judith R.]

Most of the information I have read on copyright and quilts has been written by quilt designers and might be a bit biased. I recently found this site: http://www.paulrapp.com/articles.php , written by a lawyer, and he seems to explain things fairly well. He even has an article on quilts.

I found another site, written by a non-lawyer, who basically says you can do what you want with what you make from a pattern, you just can't copy and distribute the pattern itself. He says telling you what you can't do with your pattern is the same as a car manufacturer telling you where you can't drive.

This was posted on THE BIG TENT by another poster. I plan to read the info for myself. ... I thought I would share it.

[Betty J.]

That one written by a lawyer is an interesting article. Thanks for posting. I was especially amused by Michael Eck's (the lawyer) statement that

"I was rather surprised to learn that were any hot topics among quilters, given my understanding of quilting’s status as a time-honored craft, a quintessential form of folk-art, and a quiet solitary pursuit of women of a certain age. Boy, was I wrong. Quilting is a dynamic artform and has experienced a renaissance of sorts in recent years. " :lol: :lol:

[Diane O.]

I don't see how the magazine can expect you to ask permission for making a quilt from a pattern that you BOUGHT. When you purchased the magazine, you purchased any pattern that is IN THAT MAGAZINE. When you make something from a PATTERN, you are NOT COPYING the pattern, you are using the pattern in the manner in which it was intended... as a template in making a quilt. Copyrights DO NOT extend to what you make from a pattern, they only COVER THE PATTERN ITSELF. You can not take that pattern, and reprint it and distribute it.. that would be copyright violation. But to make a quilt, from a pattern you purchased, is not violating any copyright laws.

Once someone sells you something, they give up the right to tell you what you can or cannot do with it. Copyright laws say you can't COPY the pattern and sell that copy of the pattern itself. But it has nothing to do with MAKING an item from that pattern and selling that item.

I have found some very intereting information from this website.

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/...Patterns.shtml

The person/s who sold the pattern can not tell you that you can't post a picture of a quilt you made from that pattern. You own the copyright to the picture YOU took of the quilt YOU made from a pattern. They can not tell you you can't post it somewhere. Now you can't take THIER picture of the quilt and post that on your blog, or website or anywhere else. But they don't own the copyright to a PICTURE you took of a quilt made from their patterns. Copryight laws protects the ORIGINAL photograph, NOT the SUBJECT of the photograph.

I do think that some people/companies go to far in what they say their copyrights cover, because they know most people won't fight them, so they get away with it.

[Judith R.]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the article in the McCall's magazine but under the Q/A's it indicates and I quote here
"...Another issue with the Internet is people posting photographs on their blog sites. If a photo shows a quilt that is protected by copywright, the photo is a copy and putting it on the site is publishing. Both require the designer's permission."
From page 55 of McCall's Quilting September/October 2010 issue.

[Diane O.]

Quilts in and of themselves can not be copyrighted. They are "useful" items. A “useful article” is an object having an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information. Examples are clothing, furniture, machinery, dinnerware, and lighting fixtures. An article that is normally part of a useful article may itself be a useful article, for example, an ornamental wheel cover on a vehicle.

Copyright does not protect the mechanical or utilitarian aspects of such works of craftsmanship. It may, however, protect any pictorial, graphic, or sculptural authorship that can be identified separately from the utilitarian aspects of an object. Thus, a useful article may have both copyrightable and uncopyrightable features. For example, a carving on the back of a chair or a floral relief design on silver flatware could be protected by copyright, but the design of the chair or flatware itself could not.

Copyright in a work that portrays a useful article extends only to the artistic expression of the author of the pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. It does not extend to the design of the article that is portrayed. For example, a drawing or photograph of an automobile or a dress design may be copyrighted, but that does not give the artist or photographer the exclusive right to make automobiles or dresses of the same design.

If you take a picture of something, the picture you take is YOURs, you own the copyright to that picture.

On the US Copyright website, they even state in their FAQs, that Copyright protects the ORIGINAL photograph, NOT THE SUBJECT of the photograph. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/fa...ect.html#elvis

Also in the Copyright law Title 17 Chapter 1 §113(c), specifically states "In the case of a work lawfully reproduced in useful articles that have been offered for sale, or other distribution to the public, copyright does not include any right to prevent the making, distribution or display of pictures of photographs of such articles in connection with advertisements or commentaries related to the distribution or display of such articles, or in connection with news reports.

So if you make a quilt from a legally purchased pattern, that the copyright holder has sold to you, you have the right to take a picture of YOUR quilt, and post that picture on your blog.
If you go to a quilt show and they allow photographs to be taken, and take pictures of some of the quilts, and you want to post a picture YOU TOOK, on your blog, of a quilt YOU HAD PERMISSION TO PHOTOGRAPH, then you don't need permission of the quilt maker. In effect, by putting their quilt in a show that allows photographs, they have given you permission to take that photograph, and since it is YOUR photograph, they can not tell you what you can or can not do with that photograph.

The fact that a magazine prints information about copyright, but doesn't seem to research what they are printing doesn't make it the law. Again, I beleive that articles like the one in McCalls, is giving the information they WANT people to beleive, not the true facts of the law. Because they think most people will read it in a magazine and say to themselves, "it was printed in a magazine, they wouldn't put something in there if it weren't true". When in fact, what they printed isn't what the copyright law states. The best protection is to research for yourself what copyright laws cover and what they don't. Most people want to control every aspect of their patterns, and what is done with them, but the copyright laws don't give them that control.

[Diane O.]

Mailmanldy

The UPSHOT is I will stop buying magazines.... I have not seen any patterns I REALLY LOVE AND HAVE TO MAKE in several years.... I might take a class to make a quilt if it is a technique I have never done before.... but most of my quilts start from my stash and are pretty standard pattersn I make because I need a fast quilt gift....

I have not been too happy with fabrics / patterns/ magazines for several years... mostly because of this false information issue and the fact that magazines have so much advertisements... I do not need to pay for their advertisements. It is like paying for junk mail.

A couple of years ago in a fit of cleaning / rearranging I went through magazines culling out the patterns to put into sleeves to save and throwing out ads/ information of no use to me... I ended up with 10-12 pages from each magazine... the rest went into the trash.... too much waste.

I also find the real innovators are usually on line... there are so many FREE SOURCES of patterns I do not need to pay for them any more.

As is I can sew for the rest of my life without buying another magazine/ pattern. I may buy the magazines to read on a trip but that is rare...








http://nonniequiltingdreams.wordpress.com/

[Diane O.]

As Sue H says though, it could only possably hold up with art quilts. There is nothing new under the sun after all.

I'm just off to help daughter with an Irish Chain in greens. Don't any of you say you have done one or seen one ever in the world over the past 400 years. OK!! :wink:

[Diane O.]

We won't tell ;o)

[Betty J.]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Wouldn't breathe a word of it or admit to ever having tried any "traditional" block passed down for generations or gotten out of EQ. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Betty J.]

If you come across copyright agreements you don't feel are fair the best thing is to not buy the product. I have several designers I won't buy form because of the regulations they put on their products. If they see they loose money by the requirements they may rethink their demands. The worst one I've found you can't technically use the technique or pattern at all. Fortunately that designer doesn't defend their rights in that way, but it puts me off buying the product. If you want to be really helpful alert the designer to the issue so they are aware of the response to their requirements.

Equally as a designer I do find a lot of quilters who think it is OK to photocopy published patterns (books, magazines or patterns) and give the copy to their friends. It's not OK. It is a form of theft. By all means give the original away when you are done with it but please don't make copies of them. Equally if someone wants to make a lot of copies of an item from a pattern you aught to ask the designer, and please do credit any patterns or books that have helped in making a quilt for show. Not only is it polite to credit your sources but it can really help the designers you like.

Ferret