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62 ALL MISSOURI SHOP HOP WEST CENTRAL REGION
COPYRIGHT
ON THE HOP As you hop around Missouri, see if you can spot the difference between things under copyright, and elements in the public domain.
Dr. Elizabeth Townsend Gard is a law professor at Tulane University and an avid, obsessed quilter. She is the host of the Just Wanna Quilt podcast, and author of Just Wanna Create: Copyright and Fair Use Strategies, which is available at www.justwannaquilt.bigcartel.com as well as Amazon. She has taught nationally at QuiltCon and Quilt Market’s Threads of Success program. Just Wanna Quilt
was featured in Quiltfolk Magazine.
A WORLD MADE FOR US
The fabrics, the patterns, the tools, the whole quilting world is made for our enjoyment and creativity. As you window shop and buy on The Hop, look around at the world. It is filled with two kinds
of things: copyrighted works and public domain resources.
COPYRIGHT l Copyright protects patterns, fabric, quilts, and photographs. It’s a federal law that arises automatically whenever you create and generally lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years. That’s a long time. Copyright protects the economic interests of
an author.
PUBLIC DOMAIN l These are elements that can be used by anyone. Examples include colors, fonts, and shapes. As quilters, we also know those common ways of sashing, repeating blocks, and many fabrics (e.g. polka dots) are in the public domain. Anything in the public domain can be used without restriction.
To create a quilt you put together your own selection, arrangement, and coor- dination, and you create a copyrighted work. You might use things in the public domain, sometimes copyrighted fabrics, and maybe even a pattern you found at that great quilt shop.
BEST PRACTICES
Quilters know this instinctively. We
also know that there are things we can
do with what we purchase that are completely legal—give a friend a fat
quarter, for example. But there are other actions that are a bit more sketchy—like making 10 copies of a pattern you recently bought and giving them out to friends. That would be copyright infringement. But you know that. And it hurts
the feelings and economics of the patternmaker, who works so hard
to bring us their patterns. Because this world is made for us, it is also our duty to respect and protect those who contribute, and this is especially true of the pattern makers.
WHEN DOES IT MATTER?
Copyright matters when you think about selling your work. You have to be careful about what you include and what re- sources you use. Copyright matters when you are taking a class, and are required to buy a pattern; you support the ecosys- tem. Copyright matters when you enter a show, and you provide proper attribution for the pattern (if it is not your own), any underlying copyrighted works (e.g. photo- graphs) and inspiration (based on
a class by ___).
For example, when the Robert Kaufman com- pany reproduced Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” as
a fabric panel, with additional coordinat- ing fabric. The famous painting is out of copy-
right. Now, quilters can quilt their own versions using this panel. (I did with gold thread from Superior Threads). That’s the essence of copyright: “building on the shoulder of giants,” we create new works. www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/ quilts_patterns/the_kiss/
JUST WANNA QUILT
For most of us, we just wanna quilt— experience new techniques, make things for our families, donate charity quilts, and enter quilt shows. Sometimes copy- right touches what we do. Once we know copyright law, we find freedom in under- standing how copyright works. For more information regarding copyright, listen to the podcast, Just Wanna Quilt, join our Facebook group, Just Wanna Quilt, and visit us at www.justwannaquilt.com.
We talk about quilting, community, and of course, copyright.