| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| JanO |
Posted - May 24 2006 : 9:26:09 PM
I almost gaged when I read this article! pattern designers want control over your quilt! They want you to ask permission to show your quilt in county fairs as well as if you can even sell your quilt, she even elluded that she should get part of the prize money even though she didn';t say it out right, yes I do think the pattern should be credited but geez the pattern this women is talking about is a modified rail fense that has been around hundred of years the only thing original maybe is her choice of fabircs!
http://www.agrinewsinteractive.com/archives/archives_fullstory.htm?ArticleID=7408&ShowSection=From%20the%20Archives
Here's a picture of the quilt in question
http://www.kathleenbissett.com/Garden.html |
| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Aug 22 2006 : 04:48:05 AM
I worked for a cross-stitch design company for 15 years. We often would see stitched christmas ornaments, etc, for sale that were from our design books. That did not matter so much as someone trying to resell our patterns. We published our charts in multi-colors to make it harder to xerox and reproduce. In other words, we would use the same symbol, but use it in different colors. But there will always be a certain amount of "sharing" going on. We even had folks from other countries (primarily asian) come into our booth with cameras to take pictures of our designs! Finally the exhibit halls forbade cameras on the trade show floor for the reason that people were taking their photos home to their countries and copying our designs for resale.
Yes, it is all very tricky.
Peace |
| willowtreecreek |
Posted - Aug 22 2006 : 02:12:28 AM
Okay I just saw this topic for th first time and I think I will weigh in. I am an artist/art teacher. In my art classes we often borrow ideas from other artist possibly copying or modified copying of master works. I require my students to indicate the original artist somewhere in their lable of the work. They may choose to write "A study of Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh" or something like "The Night Sky - In the style of Vincent van Gogh" But they must give credit where credit is due. If one of my students found a newspaper article with a picture of a quilt and and used some ideas from that design in a piece I would also require them to give credit. HOWEVER, if someone purchased a pattern that was sold in a store or published in a book than I DO NOT feel that they have to give credit. The article stated
"The maker had purchased Bissett’s pattern "at a shop in Osgoode," said Presley, a resident of Manotick. "
Obviously Bissett had placed her pattern for sale. Therefore in my opinion relinquishing her right to claim any rights to work made with the pattern! She sold the pattern! If she was so protective of her design than why did she sell it?
I make jewelry. I do not sell my patterns. If someone borrows my designs and profits from them I would have a problem because I did not give, sell or offer my design to them. If I make a pattern and put it on my website or sell it to a jewelry magizine for publication than anyone who uses it has everyright to.
Bissett CHOSE to sell her pattern. I don't think anyone held a gun to her head and forced her to do it.
Copyright law is very tricky. I know with the internet and everything there are a lot of grey areas. We have a lot easier access to a lot of stuff that may or may not be copyrighted and may or may not be indicated as copyrighted material. But if you buy a pattern I think it is yours to use how you wish.
How many of us sew a credit due tag into the things we make from Simplicity or Mcalls patterns? I would guess NONE of us. Why? We BOUGHT the pattern so now it belongs to US!
Jewelry, art, baskets, etc.
www.willowtreecreek.com |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - Aug 21 2006 : 3:55:44 PM
Even though it has been several months since the last post on this topic, I have not stopped thinking about it.
I don't think it is wrong at all for a designer to want money for designing, whether it is fabric, quilts, knitwear, or software. After all, that is the profession they have chosen. Is it wrong for a waitress to want tips? Is it wrong for a truck driver to expect to be paid for driving the truck? No. It is also not wrong for a designer to be paid for designing. There is skill, experience, training, judgement, and talent involved in designing -- it takes a lot of investment of money in education, tools, and books, and investment of time to practice it, to be good at it, just as there is at any profession.
Why do people not balk at paying $600 per hour to a lawyer, or more to a skilled surgeon, but then expect a designer to give their services away for free?
If you think you can do it yourself, go ahead! I can almost guarantee the results will not be as good as from a designer who has trained for years.
The first rule of running a sustainable business is that you have to make a profit. You can't be charitable if you don't make money. If you can't charge for your work and recover your investment plus a little extra, you might as well put your money in the bank at a fixed interest rate and stay home and watch TV.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com, web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
| lovejanet |
Posted - Jun 05 2006 : 7:40:45 PM
wow, this is a great topic. there are several designers out there who want not only want recognition for their fabric but also the finished product, money.
to me that is when i stop making fabric from those designers. there are plenty of other lines of fabric designers who have not let fame get to their head. in plain english, the quilt designer has gotten greedy. time to stop buying/promoting anything she makes.
that's what i think,
good night.
love, janet
http://www.lovejanet.typepad.com/ |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - Jun 05 2006 : 5:29:05 PM
When you enter a quilt competition, the quilt is being judged (usually) on several things - the design, including the color, pattern, and fabric choice, as well as the skill of the actual sewing and construction involved.
By entering a competition at a fair, (again, depending on the judging criteria) without crediting the original designer, the crafter is essentially offering the quilt as totally his/her own work, taking credit for the design work that someone else did. After all, most people begin to judge the quilt from afar, looking at the colors and the design, long before they get close enough to see the technical precision of the cutting and stitching.
If the competition was strictly on construction, I wouldn't see a problem with using a commercial pattern. But that's not how the contests are usually judged.
It might also be different if the quilt is simply being displayed and not entered in a contest.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
| KarenP |
Posted - May 26 2006 : 3:47:55 PM
I can see both sides of this issue, but if you purchase a pattern and make an article for personal use, but enter it in the fair. Where is the copyright infringement?
Especially if credit is given to author. Should drum up some sales for the pattern.
I can see maybe if your selling the article, I know it's touchy with some fabrics too.
NFL fabrics aren't supposed to be on anything sold either, but it happens all the time.
Just my 2 cents
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - May 26 2006 : 06:17:55 AM
maybe Im wrong or I don't know enough about this but if you are copying a design down to the colors and then selling it, to me THAT is stealing the design. But if you are getting inspiration from something you saw and putting your own ideas into it, how is that wrong? A person who designed something like an embroidery emblem, got their ideas off of something they saw. I don't claim to know alot about this and Im trying to understand. I design things w/ my wool all the time. I hook rugs, weave many things from my yarns I spin & dye and I get most of my inspiration from nature like so many other people. But I have also gotten inspiration from things I've seen other people do. I never have & never would copy anything that someone else did and wouldn't want to anyway but being inspired by it just gets creative juices flowing and I think that is great.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Jana |
Posted - May 25 2006 : 7:37:51 PM
Brenda,
I agree with you. As someone who has a degree in art, I know first hand about this sort of thing.
When I was an art student I did an assignment for an advertising design class. The instructor for the class happened to, besides teach at the university, owned a graphics company. I guess you can tell where this is going... Yup, he used my design for a local business, profiting from my work. As a poor college student I had no way of combating this legally. Ah well, I guess imitation IS a sincere form of flattery.
As far as things like embroidery designs go, I have heard of more than one person having their computerized equipment seized by authorities for selling the image on a product at a craft fair. Even IF they give credit to the designer. If the designer specifically states not to use the design for profit, thats what they mean!
Alas, there are those items that fall into that grey area of the "public domain", sort of like using the imgage of artist Edward Munch's "Scream" for the "Scream" movies. Or the hundreds of characatures of the Mona Lisa, etc. Traditional quilt blocks, I would think, fall into this area. Some assembly techniques, such as Betty Cotton's "Cotton Theory" ARE copyrighted and cannot be used to produce an item for sale.
I guess I would rather err on the side of caution because I KNOW what it feels like to have someone steal your work.
Jana |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - May 25 2006 : 5:48:05 PM
Actually I am quite glad you posted this.
As a software designer I am very aware of intellectual property rights - too many times people think that because I know how to make their computer do something, I should just do it for free- as if the years that I spent studying and the time that I devoted to learning when I could have been out doing something fun have no value!!! Sometimes they are actually offended if I offer to teach them how instead of doing it for them, or horror of horrors, actually charge them to do it!
Also, I like to design machine knitting patterns, and while I sometimes give them away, I appreciate how hard it is to devote your life to your craft and get really good at it (I'm not!) and then hear people gripe about spending $10 to $12 for a pattern - although this doesn't happen frequently at the machine knitting shows I attend, it does sometimes.
So, I have been thinking about this too. The actual topic I was thinking of was machine embroidery designs - I have downloaded many free designs from the Internet and sometimes feel guilty enough to actually purchase a pattern or two from the designer also. Most of the licenses for these free designs allow you to use them for personal use, or to embroider them on items for sale, but not to sell or redistribute the design itself. But I was thinking of using one on the MJF chapter quilt square (Yes, I'm running out of time! I know it! ) and was worried that if I did, and Mary Jane takes the quilt on her book tour, and it gets photographed, and someone recognizes their design in the quilt, and they don't get credit or paid, would either I or Mary Jane be in trouble? Perhaps rightfully so, since the embroidery designer may have a substantial investment in graphics software, digitizing software, embroidery design transfer equipment, and embroidery machine, not to mention the time and energy put into the design. They deserve recognition for their creation, at the very least, if not financial renumeration.
So I guess I am going to take the high road and design my own - probably the results won't be as "professional" as someone who has better software and better skills - but it will avoid the copyright issue.
I don't see a problem with being upset if someone copies your original quilt design, especially if it is right down to the same colors and fabrics you used in your pattern, without crediting the designer. But it really boils down to the text of the copyright notice that is printed with the pattern, if it is.
I tend to agree with what the article says here:
"Because of the promotional value, designers generally welcome having their patterns shown at fairs, so long as they’re "properly acknowledged" on the label, she said, and have been asked permission.
Buying the pattern design does not entitle a quilter to "copy" it without permission, she explained. That includes showing it off in public competition. "Display is a form of copying" and goes beyond the definition of personal use, she said."
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - May 25 2006 : 11:11:54 AM
Karin you are so right. Mother nature would be up in arms w/ all the inspiration she provides. Love it.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Mumof3 |
Posted - May 25 2006 : 09:31:59 AM
Oh my gosh. I'd like to say "I've heard it all." but I am sure something even more ridiculous will come along soon. Honestly. Michele is right, we all take inspiration from things we see. If someone really wants to be picky, I guess 'Mother Nature' should be up in arms with all of us!!
Karin |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - May 25 2006 : 06:25:49 AM
I dont want to be NEGATIVE but.......... is anyone else thinking everything is over the top!! My goodness, animal ID, new drivers liscense w/ your whole life on a barcode, price plus cards so "THEY" know what you buy, soon we will all be micro-chipped. IM SORRY, but it is getting to me. YES, the quilt thing is also ludicris. Everyone borrows ideas from things they see. I do not feel stealing an idea from someone is right in any way. But we all see things and get ideas from things we see, it's never the same because we all see things in a different way.I don't know, maybe im getting old.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Kathigene |
Posted - May 24 2006 : 11:16:59 PM
This is all taking place in Canada. They have an entirely different judicial system then ours. Perhaps if you live on the border as I do and perhaps exhibit your quilts cross border it could effect you but for now it's not something that should be cause for alarm in the United States.
Kathy
Dogs make such good friends because they wag their tails rather then their tongues. |
| sonflowergurl |
Posted - May 24 2006 : 10:31:03 PM
I personally don't quilt (yet), but I think that's ludicris! (sp?)
That's a bit over the top if you ask me!
Katee
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here.
"Looking Toward the Son"---- http://sonflowergirl731.blogspot.com
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