Ethical Question
05-19-2010, 05:19 AM
#41
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: PA
Posts: 2,879
Originally Posted by JNCT14
OK - here is the dilemma. I am browsing on sites, reading this forum, looking at quilting magazines and I happen to see a quilt that is just SO pretty, I am dying to make it. I also notice that I can purchase a kit in order to make this wonderful quilt.
However, I am a pretty experienced quilter, I know the design, I calculate my own yardage, and I don't need directions. However - do I still have to buy the kit?
Now note that I would not sell the quilt after I make it. And I KNOW that we need to support quilt businesses so they can stay in business. But I wouldn't use the kit, so why am I paying for it?
saySo lets hear your opinions!
However, I am a pretty experienced quilter, I know the design, I calculate my own yardage, and I don't need directions. However - do I still have to buy the kit?
Now note that I would not sell the quilt after I make it. And I KNOW that we need to support quilt businesses so they can stay in business. But I wouldn't use the kit, so why am I paying for it?
saySo lets hear your opinions!
05-19-2010, 05:25 AM
#42
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 547
Originally Posted by Quilting Nonnie
Originally Posted by PatriceJ
this is definitely a copyright issue.
if it is an original design, or a truly original way of using traditional blocks that you would never have thought up on your own then you would be very wrong to copy the quilt - regardless of whether or not you try to sell it or use it in a show/competition. it may be "merely" unethical, or actually illegal, or both.
making a few changes here and there does not change somebody else's design into your design. that's a myth.
if the design is protected by copyright your opinion as to whether or not you should be allowed to do as you please is irrelevant. the law is the law is the law. and it's wrong to break the law, whether you agree with that law or not.
put yourself in the designer's shoes. she's trying to make a living. copying somebody else's orginal, protected work without their consent is stealing. plain and simple.
you are obviously concerned and want to do the right thing. good for you. :thumbup:
if you want to make the quilt but don't want to buy the kit, pay the designer the courtesy of asking her permission to replicate it or for a way to buy a legal copy of the pattern.
if it is an original design, or a truly original way of using traditional blocks that you would never have thought up on your own then you would be very wrong to copy the quilt - regardless of whether or not you try to sell it or use it in a show/competition. it may be "merely" unethical, or actually illegal, or both.
making a few changes here and there does not change somebody else's design into your design. that's a myth.
if the design is protected by copyright your opinion as to whether or not you should be allowed to do as you please is irrelevant. the law is the law is the law. and it's wrong to break the law, whether you agree with that law or not.
put yourself in the designer's shoes. she's trying to make a living. copying somebody else's orginal, protected work without their consent is stealing. plain and simple.
you are obviously concerned and want to do the right thing. good for you. :thumbup:
if you want to make the quilt but don't want to buy the kit, pay the designer the courtesy of asking her permission to replicate it or for a way to buy a legal copy of the pattern.
Here is something I found on quilt.com that tells the laws surrounding copyright and applied to quilting.
http://www.quilt.com/FAQS/CopyrightFAQ.html
Just my thoughts.
05-19-2010, 05:27 AM
#43
Banned
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 7,286
Originally Posted by JNCT14
OK - here is the dilemma. I am browsing on sites, reading this forum, looking at quilting magazines and I happen to see a quilt that is just SO pretty, I am dying to make it. I also notice that I can purchase a kit in order to make this wonderful quilt.
However, I am a pretty experienced quilter, I know the design, I calculate my own yardage, and I don't need directions. However - do I still have to buy the kit?
Now note that I would not sell the quilt after I make it. And I KNOW that we need to support quilt businesses so they can stay in business. But I wouldn't use the kit, so why am I paying for it?
However, I am a pretty experienced quilter, I know the design, I calculate my own yardage, and I don't need directions. However - do I still have to buy the kit?
Now note that I would not sell the quilt after I make it. And I KNOW that we need to support quilt businesses so they can stay in business. But I wouldn't use the kit, so why am I paying for it?
Just because they sell a kit doesn't mean you HAVE to buy it. Almost all of the magazines I get now have kits for the quilts they show. But you can still make it however you want, and aren't obligated to buy the pattern. And if you see an ad for one that you can figure out yourself, I say go for it.
05-19-2010, 05:28 AM
#44
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Colorful Colorado
Posts: 357
According to a local quilt shop, if you change the pattern by 25% you can claim it as your own. (???)
As to the kit issue. I have made patterns that were from kits, because I loved the colors and the pattern of the kit.
I have also purchased kits that had one or two fabrics that I did not like in any way, so I used my own.
I believe kits are a convenience issue only, and you are certainly NOT obligated to purchase a kit to make a quilt that you love. If that were the case how many of us are already outside of "quilt law" by making patterns we see in magazines that also offered kits???
If you give credit to the designer I would say:
"Inspired by the quilt designed by Jane Doe."
As to the kit issue. I have made patterns that were from kits, because I loved the colors and the pattern of the kit.
I have also purchased kits that had one or two fabrics that I did not like in any way, so I used my own.
I believe kits are a convenience issue only, and you are certainly NOT obligated to purchase a kit to make a quilt that you love. If that were the case how many of us are already outside of "quilt law" by making patterns we see in magazines that also offered kits???
If you give credit to the designer I would say:
"Inspired by the quilt designed by Jane Doe."
05-19-2010, 06:17 AM
#45
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: currently in Sioux Falls, SD
Posts: 697
I don't think you have to buy a kit. I personally never have because I enjoy the process of designing with my own colors. I usually change a border on an existing pattern, too so it is my own. Good luck!
05-19-2010, 06:22 AM
#46
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: slowly going forward cuz' I can't find reverse
Posts: 262
I see a mixture of personal views overshadowing the interpretation of copyright. Sure we can all Google it and make our own decisions based on our personal ethics but when you allow those personal ethics to decide that your personal interpretation is what the law intended, well, that's when we cross the line into thinking we are a pseudo-expert and have the ability or enough knowledge to make an eronneous statement of fact. Unless you actually have a law degree and specialize in intellectual property, the opinions expressed here are just that. Opinions.
05-19-2010, 06:25 AM
#47
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Brush Creek,TN
Posts: 343
If you see a dress in the store and go home & make it,that is fine so I say see a quilt go home & make it.Do we really think they are going to come after us? Gee they don't even know us! I say make what you want too!
05-19-2010, 06:38 AM
#48
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Raleigh, MS
Posts: 1,038
Originally Posted by PatriceJ
once you get a legal copy of a pattern you may do pretty much what you please with whatever you make from it. a lot of designers mistakenly believe they can tell you what you can and can't do with the finished product, but they are incorrect. obviously, you couldn't claim to have designed it yourself. obviously, you couldn't enter it into any show or contest that requires entries to be the original work of the entree. and you definitely can't claim to have written the instructions and created the illustrations yourself. but if you're allowed to enter things designed by others, and you give full and proper credit where it's due, then you are still doing the right thing.
05-19-2010, 07:02 AM
#49
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Southern Illinois
Posts: 3,672
Another thing I have always wondered about: If I purchase a pattern, is it then mine to do with as I wish? I know I cannot reproduce it and give it away copies of it. However if I make and sell 100 quilts from it, as long as I acknowledge the designer is that fair game?
By the way this is just a rhetorical question, I am NEVER going to make the same quilt twice, let alone 100 times, LOL Too many beautiful things out there and dancing through my head.
By the way this is just a rhetorical question, I am NEVER going to make the same quilt twice, let alone 100 times, LOL Too many beautiful things out there and dancing through my head.
05-19-2010, 07:03 AM
#50
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 733
If you're an inspired quilter (aren't we all to some degree), my guess is that you'll end up changing SOMETHING so that's it's not exactly like the kit quilt. Your borders, etc. will evolve to be different, so it will become somewhat of your own design. But I definitely believe you shouldn't sell it in any way; that's unethical. HAVE FUN QUILTING!
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