ukdame

Why not. I plan to in some upcoming fall craft fairs. I usually do some variation of design or colors so no two are ever alike.

nancyw

I wanted to name a quilt the same name that the designer used. I wrote her a letter with my e=mail address and she sent me an e-mail saying that was fine.

Lady Diana

There was a posting a few days ago, here on the board.....you can sell your quilt. You can also sell anything t hat says personal use. There is no copyright in this situation...you are not copying a printed pattern....the Disney issue is trademark not copyright. Sell you quilt with out a second thought.

Bree123

Derivative works can still be considered copyright infringement. If you plan to change the design, be sure to document your re-design process (How did you make the decision about which colors to use? What about your quilt would make someone say "wow! that change makes all the difference!"? etc). Yes, there are some cases where all someone did in the re-design process was change the colors & the case went in their favor. There are also cases where someone changed colors & scale, but they lost. Art Law is extremely nuanced & the difference between being considered original or derivative is not necessary apparent simply by looking at the items in question; it's about the work that went into the re-design. For example, if someone makes an oil painting of a red rose & I use applique to exactly re-create that rose on a quilt using yellow fabrics (making a yellow version of the rose), that would typically be considered infringement. On the other hand, if I take a whole cloth fabric & use drops of wax to make the rose a la pointillism & then hand-dye the background like a surrealistic sunset, that would very likely be considered original enough (though I still might list the original art as the inspiration for my new creation). All I really did was change the rose from red to white, but the process of transforming it to a pointillist rose & the thought that went into the re-design (knowledge of pointillism, knowledge of surrealism, skill of using the different mediums, understanding of why my techniques impact viewers' perception, etc) matter a great deal.

Yes, there are websites out there that say that once you own one personal license of someone's IP, that's enough to make as many copies as you'd like (that's not limited to quiltmaking, but extends to music, movies, written works, and so forth). And it's true that the vast majority of violations are never discovered by the original creator -- especially if the violator only made a few copies of the work. But having now gone through the process of sketching, graphing, re-designing, creating a scale pattern, creating a full-size paper/muslin pattern, making the actual quilt design & the necessary adjustments as I go along, I am starting to appreciate how many hours designers spend to create a single quilt. At the end of the day, we can either hide it in a closet to be sure that no one will steal our IP, or we can trust that most people are honest individuals who will pay us for our designs. I get so discouraged sometimes when I see these little pop-up websites encouraging people to break the law and profit off of other people's hard work, but then I try to remember all the lovely honest people in our world (like my QB friends) who get that designers need to pay for food, housing & electricity like the rest and seek permission to buy/use our designs.

I believe goodwill is always returned back to us. I got permission for designs I wanted to use (and was clear about changes I wanted to make -- in one case, the designer actually asked me to please send her photos of my finished quilt[s] because I used needle turn & she doesn't have the patience for that, plus she really loved the colors of fabric I used) and always give credit to the designer/inspiration. If they want me to buy a pattern for each quilt, I do. If they need me to limit what I see to less than 5 of the same quilt, I do. And if they ask me not to sell it at all, I just don't do that design unless it's a skill-building quilt I'm making for family. Likewise, I hope that the same courtesy is returned to me for my designs. I would not want someone to be competing for the same customers as me using my own design. I would likewise, not want someone to enter their copy of my design against me in a juried show. After I've presented my design a few times, if someone can improve on it, great ... just give me a chance to have people see my designs & associate it with my name.

ok, I'll get off my soap box now. I just feel really passionately about this issue.