patricej

[quoting butterflywing: "okay then, got that. now, if i look at the pictures of the blocks and i decide to call it dear janet, and i write instructions my own way, is that allowed, then? or is that still infringement? can i be successfully sued if the instructions are different? does she own the rights to the pictures? not that i'm doing it. just trying to understand the fine points."]

i think you are lucky a person can't be sued for being stubborn and for looking for loopholes under rocks. give it a rest.

that's what i think.

:lol:

tooMuchFabric

Quite likely if your product was approached in a different way than hers, then you might get away with it.
If your product pretty much looked like you basically copied her work, probably not.

And as I understand it, the person/entity that owns the original antique quilt can control who puts out a pattern to reproduce THAT exact quilt.

butterflywing

phtooot! :mrgreen: where is your intellectual curiosity?

patricej

my curiosity has been satisfied. i already know the answer to the question.

and so do you.

butterflywing

:mrgreen:

mom-6

My question on all this is how do I know that someone has (or hasn't) come up with using the same fabrics and blocks as I do on something like EQ6 or Quilt Wizard and decided to "copyright" it?
Kinda like the notice on the tag of a plant I bought at the store a few weeks ago that said something like "propagation prohibited" ???? How can they sell it then???
Makes no sense to me...

patricej

most of the blocks built into EQ are public domain.

if you surf the net you will find hundreds of patterns that look virtually the same, all made using public domain blocks. the authors of those patterns can easily claim copyrights to their images and instructions. whether or not they would win a fight in court over exclusive rights to their layouts and fabric combinations is questionable.

so far, my research leads me to believe a designer would have to prove that hers is the first use of that combination and that it is so unique, there is no reasonable possibility that somebody else in the world could possibly have thought up that combination on their own. in the event of conflict, she'd have to prove that she designed hers first and that there is no way you could have come up with yours without copying hers. i think one or two have won a case but i never worry about it when my designs are based on blocks from the public domain.

Esqmommy

Ideas are protected by patents, normally. There are also trademarks. This an extremely complex topic and lawyers spend their entire careers devoted solely to copyright/patent/trademark issues. There will never be a one sentence answer. Well, never say never, but for the most part....

tabberone

Patterns present a method or procedure for making an item. Methods and procedures are not copyrightable. The outlines that accompany patterns are templates for making something. Templates are not copyrightable. If patterns were copyrightable, the copyright would only protect the physical pattern and would not extend to anything made from the pattern.

The issue of the end product being protected by copyright was rejected by the Supreme Court in Baker vs Selden, 101 US 99 (1879), over 130 years ago. There are numerous court cases that reject the idea that a copyright owner can control the use of the copy by printing restrictions on the item.

I have not been able to locate a single court decision where a company has filed a federal lawsuit over the use of patterns to make and sell items. Also, clothing is generally not copyrightable because it is considered a useful item.

Copyrights do not protect ideas but only the creative expression of those ideas.

AtHomeSewing

Thank you for the case law reference. I found a link which describes the case, and includes some notes on the Court's opinion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_v._Selden

ALSO: Thank you for all you do to help enlighten us on Copyright Protection ABUSE.