March 28, 2012
Moving Forward
I was pleased to read C&T’s CEO, Todd Hensley’s, post on the C&T blog the other day. I sincerely appreciate his trying to bring this to a close and to move forward to more creative and positive ventures. No doubt Emily Cier has more beautiful quilts to design quilts, C&T has more beautiful books to make, Moda has more beautiful fabric to manufacture and market, and I have additional fabric collections to design.
Quilt pattern designers, publishers, manufacturers and fabric designers, all have integral roles in the life of the quilting world as a whole. Our commitments to helping it and its wide array of members thrive will enable it to continue to blossom colorfully into the future.
As explained in my blog post last week the intent of my actions was to protect my copyright.
My decision to consult with my copyright lawyer was not made lightly. Like many of you, I see lawyers as a last resort. The unlicensed printed plastic tote bags were already being sold on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble’s web site, and other global websites. This was no small matter. Designs I had created had been sent overseas with no proper copyright attached to them and this had implications for my business. It was not so simple as calling the neighbors and asking them to turn down the music.
My licensing business has many facets to it and I do not expect that everyone will understand why it was necessary to bring legal counsel into the situation. But it was. And it was done very thoughtfully. This infringement jeopardized an exclusive agreement I was working on with another company to make, among other things, tote bags. Contacting my lawyer was necessary — this is why I have a lawyer — to handle copyright issues for my business.
I have been getting many questions from quilters and authors who are wondering why the book was made part of this at all.
My lawyer explained that to legally address the copyright infringement with the printed tote bags being sold, we had to address the book in question as well because the image that was used on the tote bag was taken from a close-up photograph of my copyrighted work — graphic designs, clearly recognizable and not transformed — and was published and distributed for sale without permission from me, the copyright owner.
Yes, sometimes designer fabric becomes new work in a quilt … when it is so transformed that it’s no longer a derivative work of fabric design and not clearly from the designer in question. This was not the case with the book or the tote bag. Let me emphasize for you all: The book would NOT have undergone this legal scrutiny had the tote bags not been made.
One positive outcome of this situation is that C&T has recognized the need to improve its guidelines to assist new and existing quilters-turned-authors through the publishing process. I understand that their recently launched “author initiative program” is already off to a good start and I hope it benefits everyone.
Now, I’d like to answer several questions I’ve received recently. Of course, I am not a legal expert, so if you have further questions beyond these please ask someone who is. Below is what I have come to understand through this experience, and please note that I do not speak for every designer.
So how can I use your use designer fabric? Answer: The same way you always have.
I do not dictate how the fabric that I design is used in any way. You spend your hard-earned dollars on it, you can make whatever you want. Buy 1 yard or 100 yards and whatever you make with it can be given away as a gift, sold, raffled, donated, entered into a quilt show or stashed.
Can I use your fabric, made by Moda, to create things and sell them without your approval? What about selling things on Etsy?
Yes, both are fine. I love seeing all the creative things you make and sell. In fact, please keep making them. There is no need to credit my name on your handmade finished item.
Can I use your fabric, made by Moda, in a quilt pattern I design without your approval? Can I show an image of this quilt on the cover of the quilt pattern that I will sell?
Yes to both. Your beautiful creations using my designer fabric help to inspire people to buy the fabric as long as you're crediting what fabric you used. That's how promotion works, and it’s great for all of us!
You can take a photo of the quilt you made, put it on the cover of your quilt/clothing/project pattern. Please add a simple credit line that reads:
“Fabric used on cover is {Name of Fabric Line} by {name of Designer} for {Name of Manufacturer}”. That’s it. Sell your pattern. Hey, if you tell me about it, I could even help you by promoting it.
Can I make a quilt using only your fabric collection, take a picture of it, enlarge only a section of the quilt and reproduce the new image onto another surface for sale?
No, you would be making a completely new product if you did this. I understand that even if a photographer owns the copyright of the photo they take, they do not own the rights for copyrighted images shown in the photo. You would need to get permission from the copyright owner in order to do so. Depending on how you would sell the item (think factory manufacturing and mass-market distribution), it might also require a licensing agreement.
What about photocopying or otherwise reproducing the fabric design from the fabric?
No, the answer here is a big no-no.
Before I close this final statement on the issue, I must sincerely tell you that I really do believe that the quilting community is a special one — like none other. There is such a spirit of collaboration and creativity that seems to bring out the best in people, whether they’re new to sewing and quilting or have been doing it for as long as they can remember. Over the past months, it has been such a shame to see people in this community feeling the need to take sides on this, especially when the parties involved have spent so long trying to make things right and to understand where and when we need to respect each other’s contribution to the other’s creative journey.
In the spirit of coming together and to put this behind us, I’d like to reach out to Emily Cier, whose extraordinary talents I admire, and invite her to collaborate with me on a new free project that we would feature on the Moda Bake Shop in the coming months. Please let me know, Emily. I have no hard feelings, and I think you and I as artists share a lot more than anything here that may have divided us. I was thinking we might call the project something like “Reconciliation” or perhaps as a nod to you, “Scrappy Reconciliation”?
I will take Mr. Hensley’s professional lead and close this post to comments. I can be contacted directly either through my website or by emailing me at kate (at) katespain (dot) com. In closing, if you should have any questions about the use of my or any other designer’s fabrics, please just contact the designer or manufacturer directly. If we don’t know the answer, we can embrace the opportunity to learn and further educate everyone on correct usage of artistic property. We are all here to help and to work together with the interest of mutual success.
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