3 quilt patterns

Every one of the "free" patterns I saw are copyrighted.

I saw the copyright as well. But I confess, I used the Wickedly Easy pattern when I made a hug quilt for an online friend. I found it on another website and with no mention of copyright. It was a PDF file and I just printed it off and used it.

FWIW, it's easy and turns out looking great. And I also wonder how they can put it up online like that.

Sunny

I see Yellow Brick Road around a lot for sale in quilt shops, and I think I've also seen it in either Keepsake catalogue or Hancocks/Paducah. It *is* odd that it's available like that for free in its entirety.

Sherry

their copyright info says free d/l for visitors to the website. You can use their copyright patterns for personal use, make items as gifts and sell up to 10 items. Just no mass production.

Ann

I didn't see anything that said they had permission to post the patterns on the guild website. I did see that the Wicked Easy patterns were free for visitors to

. That's completely different than permission to take the pattern and put it on your own website.

As for Yellow Brick Road I doubt that Atkinson Designs gave them permission to give one of their most popular patterns away for free.

One who owns a copyright is free to allow usage of the copyrighted item without payment. I happen to have various original music compositions and several arrangements of tunes in the public domain under my copyright, and have allowed them to be performed by various church groups without payment -- handbell choir, organist, children's choir, and adult choir have all at some point performed my stuff. I never ask for or expect payment from them, but only insist that they not be recorded or performed outside of the church, and that the copyright notice remain on all copies. In short, one can retain full copyright and allow free usage so long as the copyright notice remains intact.

Anyone can post anything on line. But in this case it is illegal. In fact, unless someone has given permission to post anything that is in print (including on line) it is illegal to do it. But many people ignore the law in this respect. sigh. Copyright is confusing in many ways, and many people do not understand what it is about.

The Wicked Easy and Wickedly Easy patterns are available on line as "free" patterns by the designer. I haven't checked on what her policy about posting them elsewhere is, but at least they should have the designer's name, website and such with them. "Yellow Brick Road" is a for sale pattern. Posting the pattern is very illegal and the group that posted it may be subject to some serious legal proceedings. But that is between the designer and the group.

Let me not get too started on some of this. So off the soapbox,

Pati, > I saw the copyright as well. But I confess, I used the Wickedly Easy

Thanks so much! I love these fat quarter friendly quilts!

I printed them all out and have them in my pattern basket!

Happy quilting,

Lenore

in cold, rainy Lakewood, WA, US

I sent the address to Atkinson Designs. Let's see what they have to say about their pattern being posting on the guild web site.

Susan

I have looked at the patterns and the regulations from the copyright office

and I can't for the life of me figure out what is copyrigted, with the exception perhaps of the actual photos. The instructions are just lists of materials with a the method of how to put them together (essentially another list, as far as I am concerned), how these instructions can be interpreted as being anything else is beyond me, neither of which can be copyrighted.

From the actual government copyright office on what cannot be copyrighted: "...methods...," "...mere listing of ingredients or contents...," and "...information that is common property..." (the dexcriptions of how to strip piece and how to put binding on the quilt look pretty much the same, both the instructions and the drawings look pretty much the same to me as in at least two books that I have somewhere in my hopelessly messy sewing room.)

So again I ask, what exactly is copyrightable. Based on information given at the government's copyright website, and what is contained in the patterns, I just don't see anything that can be copyrighted, with the possible exception of the pictures.

Brian Christiansen

I have seen the Wickedly Easy quilt designs available online for free before...apparently teh designer is offering them at her site...

since Atkinson is still selling the pattern I'm surethey won't appreciate it being given away...as theyalso sell to quilt stores and they wouldn't appreciate it either.Calico Cut-ups quilt guild had a neat card trick pattern ontheir guild site...gone now ..but it is offered as a BOMon an online store...which of course I can't remember ! Mary

"nzlstar*" wrote:

as i understand it, they scanned and posted pages written by other designers. a designer as 'author' of those pages (with the pix) own the copyright to what they wrote. if the guild or anyone wishes to rewrite the directions in their own words with their own pix and post that online that is not a breach of copyright as they then own the copyright to their own 'pattern' to do with as they please. tho they might want to rename it for clarification and possible breach of copyright issues on the name of the pattern.

again as i understand it.... copyright does not need to be registered anywhere for it to take effect. by publishing a pattern, they claim copyright to it, so when a pattern is for sale, that clearly establishes the copyright to that material. but again, i'm not a lawyer or copyright expert. just how i always understood it to be.

j.

"Brian Christiansen" wrote...

jeanne, I also sent an e-mail to one of the contact people on the site. Flat out told them that what they were doing was illegal, and that even with the "free on the designer's website" patterns should give the link to the site and pattern, not post the pattern entirely on their website. I did try to be polite and helpful, so hope I didn't really tee anyone off.

Pati, > ok, just returned from the YBR page on the guild site to the

Brian, copyright is a very complex issue. Basically any wordage can be copyrighted, along with the specific diagrams/illustrations/photos. An original design can also be copyrighted as well as an original interpretation/combination/layout/etc. of "traditional" blocks. A technique cannot be copyrighted, but the specific instructions, written out, for that technique is copyrightable. While many people have similar instructions for how to do something, the fact is that writing instructions is a "creative" endeavor. And that is what is copyrightable. Even "derivative" works are covered by copyright. If someone looks at an item and can say "That looks like one of (fill in the blank with a name) pieces." and it was influenced or created with the help of a pattern/book/previous exposure to the original designer's works then there may be grounds for copyright violation. And yes, lists can be copyrighted. DH was just telling me of a case that went as far as the Supreme Court dealing with copyright of the phone book.... a very long and specific list. One of the keys to copyright is whether or not something is a product of intellectual and/or creative work. And it gets even more complex. So let's all just agree that if you see it in print, including on the web, it is copyrighted. Any action that might deprive the designer of income or ???? is a no-no.

Don't want to heat anyone up, but copyright is a critical point in this household, in a number of ways.

Pati, >>

I looked up this court case and read the actual court decision, and didn't really understand all the legalese, but the site that linked to it said the following: "Here an unanimous Supreme Court held that the alphabetical listing of names in the white pages of the phone book was not subject to copyright because it was an unoriginal selection and arrangement of mere facts, the names, addresses and phone number or everyone in a certain geographical location. "

A few years ago, I was messing around with the openoffice.org drawing program, and drew a 8-inch square, then made a triangle connecting points in three of the sides to inscribe a triangle in this, then inscribed a second triangle in the first, making what I called a "triangle in a square." Even if I could prove that I was the first to come up with this idea, which is highly unlikely, and impossible to prove, , I really don't see what is copyrightable.

The shapes involved are square and triangle, both of which have been around long enough to be considered public domain. As for the pattern being original, it isn't remotely original, it is just a minor variant on the established pattern "square in a square."

I think the same 2 basic things can be said of the patterns from the OP. They consist of rectangles and squares, both of which are most certainly in the public domain. The pattern itself, as far as I can tell, is just a minor variation on a fence rail pattern.

If I wrote instructions of how to make my "triangle in a square" and how to put it together into a quilt, and you wrote instructions to make, it might differ in formatting or something like that, but I really don't see how they could differ in any truly significant way, so I don't see what can be copyrighted here.

Perhaps a name such as "Brian's triange in a square" could be trademarked, but trademark and copyright as 2 different things.

Brian Christiansen