Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Blatant Disregard for Copyright

Copyright is quite a “HOT” topic lately. Copyright law is there for a reason, to protect the creative works of designers and artists. It protects very specific things about one’s designs. Of course, there is a certain amount of creative crossover when it comes to quilting inspiration. There’re only so many blocks, shapes, borders, colors, and ways to spin them all around. Yes, two people can create very similar designs without ever seeing one another’s work….BUT

This is an original quilt, Tulip Tiles, created by Morning Glory Designs…morning glory designsimage used with permission

And this….is a blatant disregard not only for copyright but for the time the designer put into creating her lovely quilt. Clearly the center of the quilt was removed and text put in. There is NO WAY the creator came up with this exact border and fabric choice independently. The creator went as far as to stamp their name on the image and claim it as their own creative works. Really?!

morning glory designs theft

Please stop and think about what you’re doing. Stop the abuse of copyrights.

Take the time to ask for permission from designers and authors. You’d be surprised at how many will grant it if you only ask first.

If you see this image being used please contact Reeze at Morning Glory Designs

4 comments:

Pamela said...

We really need to keep educating people on this! You can't just take an image off of the internet and add something to it and claim it as your own. You also can't take your own image and add someone else's words to it and post it as your own. Always check quotes and give the author attribution. It's the right thing to do!

Just because you can copy it off the internet doesn't mean that it is free for you to use as you want, someone did the work to create that image, or that great quote and they are the only ones that are entitled to use it - everyone else needs permission!

Debbie said...

Well said! I just had a photo stolen from my blog and linked to another source. Happily I got the pin easily removed.....but not the blog post. Photos are considered intellectual property. Will be on the look out for this and will let you know if I run across it.

VickiT said...

Oh gosh, That 2nd picture is being shared on Facebook. In fact, I loved the saying so much that I also shared it to my Facebook page. After reading this however, I've just deleted it from my page.

Bev said...

I published an original pattern on my blog about 3 months before a well-known quilter put out a calendar with an EXACT block in it. The only difference was the finished size of the block. Because she is a well-known designer, I have to think it was just a coincidence but it's hard to give the benefit of the doubt. I'm getting ready to do a series of patterns that I've never seen anything like. I'm sure not going to put them on the blog until after I've published the pattern somewhere. I have no idea how to copyright anything.