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Fabric and Copyright

Fabric and Copyright.  We started to hear comments that fabrics had "no commercial use" and for "personal use only" on the selvages of the fabric.  We were strongly curious.  

 

The law:  We are looking into first sale doctrine, derivative works, fair use/transformative use, and tolerable uses.   Corrie Dutton and Ricardo Gonzales, 2Ls at Tulane Law School are leading the research.

 

Empirical Research:  Corrie, Ricardo and I have been investigating just what is printed on quilting fabric.  So far, we have looked at some of the fabrics at Mes Amis Quilt Shop, New Orleans, and we have been working on cataloging Judy Walker's stash.  

 

Next steps:  We want to talk with the quilting industry, with content holders (e.g. NFL, studios, etc.), and we want to do a research outreach survey, where people send us photographs of interesting notices on fabric, and any stories/experiences of fabric legal problems. 

 

How You can help:

1. Here is our Google form if you would like to submit photographs of interesting selvage notices.

Email links or information your stories about fabric!

2. If you are an Etsy-preneur and have stories, we want to hear about those too! Email here.

3. Do you have stash?  Do you want to catalog it and send us the data?  We would love that too!  Here is a template to help you do that!

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