This entry has been copied from Bonnie Hunts Quiltville page. Here is the link Quiltville so that you can check out her site for other treats! I am sharing it just is she posted it so I am letting you know that ahead of time! I am giving her the credit for letting us all know what is going on, however I want to get the word out as there are a lot of us out here that are afraid of just this sort of thing!
This sort of thing just chaps my hide!! I know as a quilter I do know always see, read or at times even get what they print on the salvage sides of my fabric. Plus the company and designer gets FREE advertising and am sure their contact info was/would have been listed as the fabric source. So instead lets go after the little person, the artist that actually create a product from the fabric. Unbelievable! Another time where we are sue happy! What are they going to sue her for the sewing machine? Her fabric stash? Please don't take it that I don't think she doesn't have money- that is not what I am saying. It just we live in a society that sues over people spilling hot coffee on themselves and get millions in settlements! Now this? What are we going to do to protect ourselves?? I wish I knew the fabric line as I would make sure it was on my no buy list!
Ok I am off the soapbox. Read it and make your own decision.
A Hiccup in Fabric Copyrights ---
Or --- things that REALLY scare me as a designer!
Grab a cuppa and sit down. This is a serious post about something that has happened to a fellow quilt designer.
The story goes like this:
Emily
Cier is a modern quilter who writes books for C&T. Fabric
manufacturers send her the latest newest lines of fabric for her to
make quilts with, and these quilts go into her books. You’d think that
is what the manufacturer would want, right? To get the fabric line out
there in the public eye, hoping to sell more fabric.
And
all was hunky dory until Emily was threatened with being SUED. For
using fabric by a certain designer with a copyright on the selvage that
says “For personal use only”.
WHAT?!
Emily writes:
“One designer — one that I’ve been a fan of since their first collection and I’ve come to respect over the years – decided that I’d violated their rights by including photo(s) of a quilt made with their fabric to demonstrate a pattern in one of my books. This particular fabric was sent to me from The Manufacturer — actually, it was their suggestion. Well, The Designer’s lawyers sent a Cease and Desist letter threatening to sue me if I don’t pay tens of thousands of dollars, plus lawyer fees, destroying all copies of the book, etc.”
What
is this world coming to when quilt designers become afraid to use
certain lines of fabric for fear of being sued? Over QUILTS? The quilts
aren’t being sold themselves ---but designs MADE with the copyrighted
fabric are the demo models used to promote patterns, books, bags, etc.
The following posts on Emily’s blog show the full story in all it’s ugliness:
http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog/2012/03/22/more-sides-to-the-story/
Imagine
me in all my horror --- with all the 100’s of different fabrics used in
my scrap quilts, trying to list each fabric line, each manufacturer,
each fabric designer ---in fear of being sued for not mentioning such
when I publish a book with a quilt that uses a recognizable piece of
that fabric?
I admit that I don’t
play with whole fabric lines, which would be really noticeable as "Oh,
that's THAT line of fabric" ---you can’t walk into a quilt shop and
find a ready made kit or fabric line to make one of my quilts
“exactly”.
To me this goes right up
there with someone entering a quilt in a show, winning a prize, and
then being told that they violated either pattern or fabric copyright
because they “profited” from the making of that quilt.
It’s out of hand.
I just want to quilt.
I want to play with my fabric and feel SAFE while I do so.
As a quilter, how does this whole mess make YOU feel?
And
just to make myself feel better, I’m headed down to Gastonia today on a
little Mary Jo’s Fabric Acquisition Road Trip to meet up with my friend
Pati who is visiting the area from Florida! We plan on shopping, having
lunch, maybe hit Ikea or the antique mall, and spend the day --- where
I will keep such things as the whole content of this post and fabric
copyrights in the WAY BACK of my mind lest it give me an ulcer.
This
is a post that has info that quilters need to know, so if you want to
pass it on to your other quilty places ---please do so.
Happy Monday, Peeps!
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