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Question of the Week

Question for the week of January 21, 2002:

Our question this week comes from Suzanne Caflisch

I have alot of interest in a wall hanging that I made, from a pattern, of the American Flag. Can I make more and sell them?

Elena :
I'm no expert. This my two cents based on my general understanding of law:

I don't see any reason why you couldn't GIVE them away. You only run into a copyright if the pattern was copyrighted and you made a profit from it. Even then, you could sell it by paying the copyright holder royalties.

Kathy Darden :
The way your question is phrased, it doesn't sound like your wall hanging was made from an actual flag, but rather you replicated features of the flag to create the wall hanging. That being the case, there is no reason you could not make and sell them. HOWEVER, if any portion of a real flag was used to create your wall hanging, course that would not be acceptable.

Evelyn L. McCarty :
No, Suzanne, you cannot make additional wall hangings to sell from this pattern. That falls under copyright laws. However, if you contact the patterns source and ask for permission sometimes they will say o.k. other times they will expect a commission on each sale.

teresa :
Go for it, girl!

Pat :
If the pattern you used is not considered to be in the public domain, then no you cannot sell either the pattern of the quilts. If you can get permission from the person who owns the copyright to the pattern then you may be able to sell them, but even then only under the copyright holders specific limitations. There was a great series of articles in Quilters Newsletter Magazine on this issue. You can acess them from their website. If you are seriously considering this, the best advice of all is to contact a lawyer who sepecializes in copyright law. Good luck:)

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