As I was searching for tutorials on bindings, I ran across a few websites that did not want their information copied in any form and it caused me to look at the copy write laws in regards to exactly how it applies to the art craft industry.
The U.S. copyright code rules can be located at: http://www.copyright.gov/title17
If you buy a pattern, make the project from the pattern and then sell it, you probably are infringing on copywriting laws. You can copy projects for your own use or to give as gifts but you cannot sell them. They need to be your own work, coming entirely from your own inspiration.
So get ideas from patterns but don’t copy unless you have permission from the owner or it is a copy write free or it’s public domain. Patterns issued before 1923 are generally considered public domain.
Most artists don’t have a problem with coming up with their own ideas and inspiration; that’s what make this craft so enjoyable. Coming up with new ideas. The best part of a project is when that spark lights and you start jotting down that inspired thought. As beginners, we need to glean through the tutorials and projects to get the structural “how to make it” ideas and then learn to combine those thoughts into your own creation.
Where do you get your best inspiration from?
I’m with you on this one, what’s the point of copying someone else’s stuff, there just is no point at all. But then it’s so lucrative. It really burns me up to see my competitors on Etsy selling the hell out of Barney and Miss Kitty and Disney stuff. I suppose they’re not big enough for the Disneys to pursue, but still. It’s as though kids growing up now are going to think all dinosaurs are purple. Grrrr,
Thanks for visiting my blog, I am enjoying your comments. Janis
I agree. I’m so sad to see all the kits being sold and now the pieces are even die cut! It’s paint by number… I don’t know why quilters can’t even choose their own colors. Everything gives me ideas! I have so many quilts in my mental to-do list.
I know what you mean about the mental to do list. I finally started journaling. I keep an additional book by my bed to jot down the ideas that come to me at night.
There are so many ways to join pieces of fabric together that I find it unbelievable that more people don’t create original work. I prefer traditional style to art quilts, but that doesn’t stop me making original quilts.
Thanks for commenting; I just read your article on housekeeping. Loved it.