Guild Sued for Using Quilt Design
This story is an authorized reprint of a post to an online list, written by Joanne Gasperik.
THIS IS A TRUE STORY. It involves an issue which strikes fear in the heart of every guild and should scare and caution every quilter. What is it? It involves proprietary laws of copyright and designs rights.
I received this information on December 26, 2007, first hand from a member of the Amador Valley Quilters of Pleasanton, California.
Three weeks before their April 2007 quilt show, the Amador Valley Quilters were slapped with a lawsuit by an national designer/quilter for ‘unauthorized’ use of a design. Apparently guild members thought they had asked for and received permission to use a design by this quilter in a quilt that contained twenty or thirty blocks from other quilters.
Though raffle tickets were already sold, the quilt basically was confiscated and could not be used of displayed in any way. A new raffle quilt had to be created and was designed by Linda Schmidt and stitched around the clock by her and some helpers in the three remaining weeks until the show. New tickets had to be printed and sold. Does anyone need this added stress?
The lawyer fees totaled more than $36,000. The guild was demoralized and their will nearly destroyed. Near bankruptcy, they considered dissolving the guild.
Donations continue to come to the guild from members and non-members alike, to pay rental fees, electric bills, and any other bills that accrue as guild members struggle to raise funds any way they can.
These copyright and design laws are all grey areas. There are no cut and dried procedures and answers. Only the lawyers gained.
If you take a class from a teacher: his or her creativity can be recognized! That quilt is NOT your original design.
It doesn’t matter that you’ve changed the colors, changed the shapes, or the size. Your quilt is not an original design. Get permission from the author and give credit for your inspiration…
~Joanne Gasperik~
The same is true of any creative media, whether it be a painting, a line drawing, a video, a photograph, a piece of music, a sculpture – in other words, anything that is created from scratch by someone else. As Joanne said, the law can appear to be fuzzy at times. However, if you are able to read through the fine print of copyright law, the basic tenet is that if an artistic entity is not your own, don’t create spin-offs and pretend that the idea is your own. Simply put, give credit where credit is due. This is one reason it is so important to label each quilt in a quilt show, stating whether it is an example of original work, or to whom the credit should go for the design.
Video About Copyright
Recently, a link was posted on yet another quilt list. This video of a talk about copyright by a Stanford professor is thought-provoking, succinct, and downright entertaining.
More about copyright law and quilters: please visit my file at the Quilter’s Muse website.
If after reading and viewing these files, you still have questions, consult an attorney. Most states have a program titled, “Lawyers for the Arts.” A participating attorney will advise you about how to avoid snafus that could open the door for a lawsuit.
These days, it is a modern absurdity that everyone wants to sue everyone. In this case, as Joanne points out, no one ever really “wins,” unless perhaps if the termination of the use of a design is of paramount importance. Needless to say, this subject of copyright provides a lot to chew on, and in fact, attorneys can choose “copyright law” as their major course of study, as have three of my cousins.
Since I realize that there are two sides to any story, I have been in contact with the person said to be the designer in question, to ask if she could tell us more. I feel it is my job to keep you informed, and it is only fair that “the other side” be given a chance to explain the situation. I hope to hear from this person and will post any further information here, as it becomes available. In the interest of peace and understanding, I hope there are lessons we all can learn from this most distressing event.
Patricia Cummings
