Another issue that should be addressed is Public Domain. A number of the gallery quilts on the Fun Quilts website are variations of public domain blocks. No one owns them - what is copyrightable? Color - Style - Layout?

I fall kind of in the middle of hobby and professional — I mostly knit as a hobby but I also design and sell patterns. As you might expect from what I wrote above, I don’t have a solid answer to this issue of copying for personal use.

I have to admit to sometimes taking inspiration from designer sweaters for my own knits, but I almost never copy a sweater exactly. On the rare occasion that I do copy a sweater so closely you might confuse mine with the real one (I just finished one such sweater, having used only the photo and my skills/experience to come up with the near-exact replica), I keep the sweater for personal use and do not distribute a pattern.

I believe that distributing a pattern would be crossing the line, but making myself a sweater does not cross that line. No one can stop me from using my skills to make whatever I want, but not everyone has those skills — and some percentage of those without the necessary skills will just buy the $300 sweater instead of slaving through trying to come up with their own version.

Knock offs are a very fuzzy area of the law and probably will always be. There are a few cases going right now of designers suing low-end mega chains for knocking off designs, like DVF suing Forever 21 — one article here:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03292007/news/regionalnews/designer_sues_regionalnews_danica_lo.htm

I’ll be interesting to see the decision . . . and this has been a very interesting post/discussion.

As for the private folks making copy-cats there is a way to prevent having exact duplicates and that’s to make your textiles in-house, or have them designed and exclusively produced for your use, or at the very least use fabrics that are not sold on a retail level. Rather than rely on the goodwill of the dishonest, lock the doors.

The final option that seems most practical to me is not glamorous; simply raise the bar. Make something that is not as easily duplicated, if not using exclusive materials use rarer or more exotic versions that are not readily available, and release new products at lightening speed.

Personally I believe that intellectual property is real property and should be treated as such. I wouldn’t worry about the people with the decency to call and *ask* to use a design, perhaps instead of a ‘no’ you could recommend a design that you sell that has similar elements or feel. I believe most home quilters would be more than happy with the substitute pattern and sales of those patterns would help pay the bills.

Why should you have to put the time and effort into making and releasing a pattern for something when you don’t want to, just because someone wants you to?

I do think that it would be a terrible blow for to have your design work basically stolen and mass produced and/or credited to someone else, but I have a very hard time understanding how someone copying a design in their home, whether or not it enters the market eventually via a secondhand market, in any way diminishes the individuality or value of the original creation made by it’s true designer.

Quilts tend to bear the stamp of their maker, whether the maker wishes it to or not, and especially if they have to figure out the pattern themselves.

I personally would not go through all the trouble of making something as big as a quilt that wasn’t my own design. That’s alot of work to do and NOT end up with something that you can give yourself all the credit for! It also doesn’t sound like all that satisfying of a pursuit. I guess some people are more in the mindset of “I want something that will look nice in the guest bedroom” than “I want to go on the grand artistic journey only a QUILT can provide!”, and that seems like an alright thing to me, especially if they credit you for the inspiration.

So many garment companies have designers that basically SHOP, drop the garment off in their pattern department where the pattern maker copies it, and then they make it in their own fabric. It is pretty much impossible for you to not get your design ripped off as a clothing designer, unless all you do is rip other people off. Clothing designers just have to totally give up on caring about exclusivity of their designs if they want to stay sane. (and it’s not a guarantee that they will stay sane.) It’s not cool for people to shop instead of design, and a good reason to be a quilt designer rather than a fashion designer, since a quilt is atleast alot more work to replicate than a little shirt out of some stretchy material or what have you, and commercial copying of quilts is probably a little less rampant and/or acceptable.

By the way, your quilts and fabrics are beautiful.Thanks for sharing and for doing excellent inspirational work.

“What is the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work?”

This is an interesting question as it has bearing upon an issue that seems to have escaped people’s notice.

Weeks refers specifically to one of, exclusive designs she makes and sells to individual high end customers. If people attempt to replicate these designs, it has a direct impact on the value of the piece. It’s no longer a one off. This potentially has an impact on the value, both monetary and sentimental of the piece, and would have an impact on Weeks relationship with current and future customers.

In effect if Weeks made patterns available for quilts that she’d sold as one offs, she’d be breaching a contract with the purchaser, and this would impact on her the goodwill of her business’.

Even if these quilts were made for private use, they can potentially enter the market place via. the second hand market/deceased estates.

Weeks is wanting not only to protect her work and name, but also to protect her relationship with a particular clientele, to whom exclusivity is one of the qualitites she is selling.

Some may not agree with this, or like it, but it’s her right, and the law protects her.

If people choose to replicate, well each to their own moral code, but you can’t expect her to like it.

Also, to respond to Linda and Emily - me too! I wish the designer would make it clear that “yes, it’s okay to use my pattern to make something to sell” or “Pattern is for personal use only; do not make objects to sell using this pattern”. Ethically, I wouldn’t use a copyrighted pattern to make things to sell; I’d rather make my own pattern and have that for sale right along with the stuffed toy or whatever, just to eliminate the “I like it but I don’t want to buy it, I’ll just copy yours” comment I’ve gotten from shoppers. Frankly, I’m a little discouraged about making and selling things; anything simple enough to make and sell is also simple enough to copy and make yourself.