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More Splash Than Cash®
is a registered trademark of Donna Babylon. All other trademarks, service marks
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Copyright
Information
There is
much confusion about what a copyright protects and to what extent. All books,
patterns, and designs written by me, Donna Babylon, or published by my company,
Windsor Oak Publishing, are protected by copyright laws. But, what does that
really mean?
It means that you are
prohibited from copying any written instructions, pattern pieces, photos, or
graphics that I have written, drawn, or photographed for any purpose other than
your own personal use. This means
that you cannot distribute copies of my books or patterns (or any portion) for
use in teaching or for sharing with your friends so that they don't have to
purchase anything. If you do this, you are stealing from me. I have invested a
lot of effort and money into the designs or developing these products. This is
how I make my living. If you steal information from me, I don't get paid, and
then I can't pay my mortgage. And, my mortgage company isn't happy when that
happens.
This is an interesting article on copyright.
By
Cheryl Weiderspahn
Pattern Designer,
Homestead Specialties Pattern Co.
Our schoolteachers warned us all about
plagiarism. We were refused when we took a professional studio photo to Staples
to make color copies. We all know we shouldn’t buy a movie video and make
copies for our friends. We all have heard about the piracy controversy over
illegal music downloads from the Internet. Yet quilters and sewers are
incurable sharers and we think nothing of laying a magazine or pattern in the
copy machine and distributing copies to all our buddies. It all seems innocent
enough at first.
Copyrights protect “Visual Art” such as
drawings, sketches, paintings, blueprints, maps, labels, photos, charts,
stationery, music, movies, architecture, sculpture, cartoons, patterns, how-to
instructions, books, fabrics, quilt designs and other two- and
three-dimensional works. (Patents only apply to inventions.)
Copyright Law was established in 1710 to
protect the creator’s “intellectual property” and has been updated many times
to reflect current society and technology. Since a law change in 1978, any “Visual
Art” is protected under Copyright Law automatically upon it taking on a
tangible form. In other words, a thought, concept, idea or intention is not
copyright protected. But the minute it takes on a physical and visible form (a
created design or writing that others can see, and therefore copy) the work is
protected under copyright law, even if no fees are paid and no papers are ever
filed with the Copyright Office. The symbol “©” followed by the year and the
artist’s name is not required, but constitutes a “Public Notification” warning
and simply expresses the artist’s intent to claim her “rights to copy.” So, if
in doubt, anything in tangible form (if you can hold it and read it) is
protected. Ask permission!
This copyright grants the creator five
inherent rights: the right to reproduce or copy their work; the right to
distribute their work; the right to publicly display their work; the right to
perform their work; and the right to create derivative works of the original
work.
How long does a copyright last? In 1998,
Congress fine-tuned the law to allow works to be copyrighted for the life of
the creator plus 70 years. This means that 70 years after the creator dies, the
copyright expires if no family heir files for an extension to renew it. After
that it is in “Public Domain,” allowing anyone to use the work. So the fact
that a magazine, book or pattern is out of print, or the author is dead, does
not mean you can copy it.
But many Public Domain works are available
for legal copy. Also, there are copyright-free sources such as some of the EQ5
designs. I got over 20,000 results when I did a Goggle search for the topic “public
domain quilt patterns!” Take the time to look and ask for necessary permission
and grant credit where due.
Let’s dispel a few myths. First of all,
forget any nonsense you ever heard about “If I change it 10%” (or 20% or 30%,
the myth varies) or “If I change three things” then it is my own design. That
is a myth. What will a judge look at? If the work is in any way recognizable as
the work of another artist, and you use it without permission, you have created
a derivative work of art, which is an infringement on the original artist’s
work and a violation of Copyright Laws.
Another myth is that if you don’t sell the
work, or if you create it for charity, you aren’t infringing on the artist’s copyright
because you aren’t making any money. That is a myth. The law is not based on
how much money YOU make, but on how much money the artist might lose had she
been able to charge you for your use from licensing, royalties and other fees.
An artist denied this income has no money to invest in future designs for you.
Artists are in the business of selling their designs. If they don’t sell very
many, they can’t keep designing new ones, and the entire creative community
suffers in the process.
A quilter called me one day to ask if she
could make one of my vests to donate it to a charity auction to benefit Breast
Cancer Research. Of course I thanked her for calling and granted permission. It
was my choice to enable her to raise money for a worthy cause. Any artist with
a heart would grant permission. She was not claiming it as her own design and I
did provide her with a sew-in label stating “Created with a Homestead
Specialties Pattern” and a catalog flyer to include with the vest. Can she also
make one of them for her niece for a Christmas gift? Of course, I see that as
being for her own personal use. Would I have grated permission if she had asked
to make four vests from my pattern and sell them for profit at her local gift
shop? No way! Would I ever find out that she sold four vests at her local gift
shop? Would the Copyright Cops arrest her and haul her off to jail? Probably
not, but she still broke the law and ripped me off. If I were she, I would not
want that guilt hanging over my head.
In a shop class situation, that is why each
student is required to purchase the pattern/book being taught. Otherwise, the
artist is being denied her income from the sale of her pattern/book. Does
paying for that class entitle the student to make and sell those items? No, not
without the designer’s expressed permission.
This is also why shop owners must buy the
patterns from the designer herself (or one of her distributors, like Checker
Distributors), rather than laying the pattern on a Xerox machine or scanning it
and making copies for sale. This is clearly denying the artist of her deserved
income and the shop owner’s professionalism and integrity is in question to all
who see this activity. Legal action could easily follow, especially since the
shop owner is bold enough to expose the counterfeit patterns to the public eye.
If you copy a quilt or garment, even making
changes, and enter it in a national competition as your own design, you are not
only guilty of infringing on the rights of the original artist, you could be forced
to forfeit all prizes, as well as any commission work that came as a result of
that show. By all means, you should give credit to the original artist and say
so when filling out the entry forms!
When I do retail shows with my original
garment designs all over the country, I do not allow photography (which amounts
to “copying”) in my booth unless the person taking the photo has already bought
the pattern. Many people take photos with the intent of making their own
garment from the photo rather than buying the pattern, and this denies me my
earned income. This photography policy is printed in the show program and most
show attendees have the courtesy to ask my permission to take photos.
Have artists actually stood up and won? You bet! For example, Connie Spurlock, owner and designer of Sew Wonderful Dreams Patterns told me how she was looking at patterns at her local fabric chain store one day and was shocked to see that a “major pattern company” had a pattern very similar to one of hers. She opened it up and saw that it was her design; even the instructions had been copied word for word! It was just a crafty little doll pattern, but they settled out of court for a tidy sum of money! True stories abound where the artist prevails over copyright infringement.
If in doubt, ask permission and give credit
where credit is due.
For more information:
U.S. Copyright Office: 202-707-3000
Copyright Information Office:
202-479-0700
To request a publication: 202-707-9100
www.copyright.gov/
Permission is granted by the author to
reproduce this article in its entirety
