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Copyright
Question Answered About:
Using blocks from the Electric
Quilt Company's Products i
in quilts, handouts, books and other information
to be published, sold, or displayed. -
Taken from the Info-EQ list, written by Penny
McMorrisEditor's Note from
Sharla Hicks: I attended a quilting retreat this last year and following a
discussion about what was ok use of patterns and software, I realized the issues
surrounding copyright and how it applies to the quilter is still very often misunderstood.
When Penny McMorris, owner of Electric
Quilt Company, posted the following on the info-EQ
list I asked permission (honoring copyrighted material) if I could add it
to newsletter. Here is what Ms. McMorris has to say about Copyright issues and
her software and publications for Electric Quilt, BlockBase, SewPrecise: Here's
the scoop from us:
Electric Quilt holds the copyright to the software, only,
not the blocks, in EQ3, BlockBase and SP. This means you may not copy the software
itself, but you may do anything you want to with the blocks, freely from us, with
the exceptions just below.Exception #1: BlockBase contains information
copyrighted by Barbara Brackman, which get into gray areas. Barbara's Encyclopedia
of Pieced Quilt Patterns (which is the source for BlockBase) contains blocks designed
during the 1960's, 70's, and up to 1980 -- including blocks designed by Jinny
Beyer, Nancy Crow and Michael James. It's only common sense that these blocks
be reserved for your own personal use, and not be reprinted or used in an item
that is meant for sale. Nor would I use them in an item I wanted to show and take
credit for as my own design. Exception #2: Sew Precise contains
blocks in the "From our Friends" file which were generously donated
by EQ users. These blocks should also be reserved for your own personal use, and
not be reprinted or used in an item meant for sale. And I don't think it should
be shown at a show as your own design. The other blocks in Sew Precise
and EQ are all either old blocks, or blocks we, at EQ, have designed. We do not
care what you do with them. Reprint them, with or without permission; make a pattern
and sell them as your own. We really do not care, and will be flattered if you
do so. When quoting someone, you are free to quote (from Barb Vlack's
book, for example) without asking permission, but you should give credit to Barb
and to her book. This does not include reprinting an entire chapter, of course,
by just quoting passages, credited to Barb. If the information is from
our help files in Sew Precise, you do not need to ask permission, or give
credit, to use it. THE BOTTOM LINE: We at EQ are free to give away
our own designs. But we are not free to give away someone else's design. So if
the design states it is by someone else, don't use it except for your own personal
use -- and give credit where credit is due. If it does not state that the block
is by someone else, it is either an old traditional design, or our own EQ design
-- use it however you would like. No permission or credit is necessary. This
is an important distinction as we may, in the future, have other programs with
designs (not by us) in which the designer *will* hold copyright to the designs. What
about blocks we design ourselves using EQ?EQ is a tool. Blocks you
design yourself are your own designs. These designs would no more be copyrightable
by us, than they would be by the pencil manufacturer if you designed the block
with paper and pencil. You do not need to say you used EQ in designing the quilt
-- we deserve no credit for your design. (We do love to know though, so we can
brag a bit about you.) You also asked:
Can we copy and share the letters printed in the Digest? Many offer good advice
& info. Must we E mail request permission each time?Yes. If you
wish to share e-mail messages with others, even if they appear in a public forum
such as Info-EQ, you should request permission from the writer first. If
I've left loose ends dangling on this issue please ask away sand I'll be glad
to tie the knot tighter so it's clearer. Good question.
Penny McMorris
The Electric Quilt Company
equiltco@wcnet.org
http://www.wcnet.org/ElectricQuiltCo/ Back
to January 1999 Computer Qulting BYTES
For more FAQ's answered by Sharla Hicks go to:
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