Topic idea for a future show or blog post

[Catherine S.]

Alex, Ricky, Justin, John, whoever sets programming (for the show or the website or both) --- I have a suggestion for discussion: Copyright as it applies to quilts and quilt patterns.

From watching TQS I have learned to be very careful not to use in my quilts anything that is already copyrighted, and not to copy other's work without permission. I naively thought this was a universal idea, until it happened to me (with the person then also claiming she designed the quilt).

I've already written about that in the "I Need Quilting Related Advice" forum, and was met with interesting responses, ranging from "once you put it on the internet, it is fair game and perfectly fine to copy anything you see on the web..." to "you have every right to be angry" to "there's really no way to register copyright of a design, and if there is it must be very expensive" -- but by and large, most seem to think that once a photo of a quilt has been shared, anyone who sees the photo can copy the quilt at will, no matter how original a quilt it is.

From the reading I did about copyright (granted, I am not a lawyer, and haven't consulted with one), it seems that yes, a quilt itself as well as the quilt pattern (if created as two separate things) *can* be registered with the copyright office, and that the copyright itself exists once the item or pattern is produced "in a fixed form" yet is not enforceable until/unless registered with copyright office. I also learned that one can, in fact, register a design with the copyright office *even after infringement has taken place* but it limits what you are able to recover in damages (if there are recoverable damages). So that even copying an unregistered design is still copyright infringement, although unlikely to be pursued in court.

And yet quilters seem split on this topic, with quite a few falling in the "you posted a picture, therefore, you gave it to the quilt world for it to be copied and there is nothing wrong with that....."

I would love if you guys would do an article, feature on TQS, something in the newsletter, anything to clarify how copyright does apply to quilts and quilt designs. obviously not all quilts are copyright -- traditional quilts are excepted from this, because of the designs being so prevalent in public domain. (so, a log cabin is a log cabin is a log cabin). But actual original designs are just that, original designs and (if I've read correctly) protected.

Thanks for considering this suggestion; I know you've mentioned it many times in passing in various TQS episodes, but I would love to see an article in the newsletter, on the blog, or on the show about it in depth. There is so much misinformation out there about what is okay and what isn't.