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Copyright Infringement - by a Fabric Company??

I came across this during my morning trawl through the quilting blogs.

In a sort of reverse situation from the Paula Nadelstern/carpet incident (where a designer copied a page from Paula's kaleidoscope book, took it to a commercial rug manufacturer and asked them to make a rug from it) it seems Fabri-quilt and/or one of their designers has gotten more than a bit of inspiration from an existing piece of artwork by a card designer, and then turned it into quilt fabric.

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Personally, I don't for a minute believe there is any way that fabric was not totally inspired by Kimberly's card. Look at it!!

Are those Fabri-quilt lawyers on crack - do they NOT see even a passing resemblance?

I'm curious - what do you think?

NAYY-I don't know Kimberly, never heard of her, or her cards, before this morning.

-Michele in NYC

p.s. And for those not familiar with the Nadelstern incident, the most amusing part of it was that the carpet was installed on the walkway from the Hilton hotel in Houston - the one that connects to the convention center hosting Quilt Market/Festival every November. The one that 40,000+ quilters annually attend, where quite a few immediately noticed the similarity and contacted Paula. Karma at work. Paula won.settled her case, and although the details were never divulged, I heard that that when asked about it during lectures, she refers to her brand new kitchen.

Reply to
Michele in NYC
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I saw that yesterday too. How could anyone deny the identical images? Oh sure, there are tiny differences, but no one could put together the same still life and call it a coincidence. I hope she nails them. And the letter from the lawyer is infuriating! Kathyl

Reply to
Kathyl

That just simply stuns me. I predict some heads are going to roll; at least I hope so. Polly

"Kathyl" I came across this during my morning trawl through the quilting blogs.

I saw that yesterday too. How could anyone deny the identical images? Oh sure, there are tiny differences, but no one could put together the same still life and call it a coincidence. I hope she nails them. And the letter from the lawyer is infuriating! Kathyl

Reply to
Polly Esther

Well, that is interesting, to say the least. I am puzzled to read that the fabric company does not have designers. So, how in the name of quilting do they print images? Pat

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

You don't need designers if you steal the images from other people!

Cindy

Reply to
Teleflora

snipped-for-privacy@newsfe07.iad...

Exactly! Unbelievable! < the fact they think it's not the same stolen image

Reply to
Kathyl

Makes me think I might think twice before buying Fabri-quilt fabric. Not saying I would boycott completely, but...

Julia > I came across this during my morning trawl through the quilting blogs. >

Reply to
Julia in MN

Amazing. It is obvious that the tableaus in which the cups are pictured were directly lifted from the cards. Fabri-quilt doesn't have designers?? How do they get their designs, then? Psychics? If they don't have their own designers, then they must be licensing the designs from someone. Someone drew the designs since they weren't directly lifted from Ms. Shaw's artwork; they weren't Xeroxed directly onto fabric. She needs to stick to her guns and get a good copyright lawyer. I will not be buying any Fabri-quilt fabric until I see this settled. There are too many alternatives; it won't be much of a hardship. While I believe this infringement may have been inadvertent, their actions since it was brought to their attention have been typical heavy-handed corporate BS.

I don't think it costs all that much to license designs for fabric. I don't think of quilt and quilt-fabric designers as rich people. At least, not Bill Gates rich, anyway.

Reply to
Valerie in FL

Here's the contact page for anyone who's interested in letting Fabri-Quilt know how you feel.

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They also have a page that kind of explains how they do business without designers. IMHO no matter how they got the artwork Fabri-Quilt had no problem putting their name on the fabric (or reaping the profits)... they should take responsibility for the "mistake".

-- Jeri

-no sig until I figure out Thunderbird

Reply to
Jeri

Jeri, Can you post the link to that page? I tried all the links (at least I thought I did) but couldn't find anything. It's probably right in front of me.... Thanks.

-Michele in NYC

Reply to
Michele in NYC

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