Part 2 of the Proprietary Polka Dot Caper

Are you disappointed that I didn't come up with some cool alliteration for the title of my post? I know. I couldn't think of a word better than "caper". I like "caper". It sort of makes me feel like Guy Noir when I put it that way.

If you missed Part 1 of Proprietary Polka Dots, you can read it right here. By the way, the shoe has nothing to do with anything, but I wanted to have a picture on my post, and I thought this was a good one. In fact, none of these images have anything to do with anything . . . except that they make for some great polka dots.

First of all, it's somewhat important to give credit to Quilting Treasures for actually responding to my email about the polka dots. Often when I fire off an email using one of the forms available at a company website, it is ignored completely. I never know what to make of that since it's unclear whether I'm being ignored or whether there simply isn't anyone at the other end of the line. In any case, Quilting Treasures did write back to me with this response:

Hello,

That note on the selvage is meant for manufacturers.
We purchase the license for different licensed designs, example Peanuts, Thomas ,etc
They do not want mass production of their designs.

If its one of our designs, no license required.

We are actually working on rewording the notes on the selvage, to make it more clear




Thank you
Quilting Treasures Customer Service

Fine and dandy. But they have really missed the point I was making, which is that polka dots have been around since time began. If one were to study the cave drawings discovered in Spain that have been around since the time of Neanderthals, I'm betting one would find some polka dots there. I know for a fact that they've been around at least as long as Fred Flintstone.

And with that I will launch into my understanding of this situation. I must emphasize that this is only my understanding and has no legal merit. Frankly, it has no merit of any kind except for the fact that I am writing it, and after all, I am a legend in my own mind. Allow me to insert another polka dot image here to emphasize the "legend" part of that last sentence.

(I couldn't decide which of these illustrated my legend better, and so I posted them both.You would have been disappointed if I'd left either of them out, wouldn't you?)

So here's the conclusion I've drawn: When it comes to fabric, the manufacturer probably cannot control what happens to the fabric after it is purchased. Designers/manufacturers might try to say they have some control, but they really do not. This has not really been tested in a court of law since the issue has generally been settled out of court, and understandably so. The designers/manufacturers know that any court ruling would probably go against them and they don't want to set a precedent. (You just never know when you're going to need a perfectly good legal leg to stand on in a court of law, and so you never want to cut off one of your legal legs to spite your face.) On the other hand, most consumers lack the financial resources to litigate, and so they're quite willing to allow the matter to drop...at a relatively small price, of course.

That said, an individual consumer would probably be treading on thin ice if one were to, say, scan a fabric design and reproduce it, particularly if one then tried to mass market it. But if one is simply using a fabric to create a single project, even if it is to be sold, one is most likely within one's rights to do so.

In this particular case, my specific gripe was about Quilting Treasures even venturing to claim they had any right to copyright polka dots of any kind, and they clearly missed that point in their response. Here is the email I wrote to them:

Yesterday I was astonished to find these words printed on the selvage of some of your fabric:  "license required for any use beyond individual consumption."  The fabric was small red and regularly spaced polka dots on a white background.  I'm quite certain that polka dots have been around since the 19th Century and so I'm curious how it is that you believe you have some sort of copyright on them.  There is nothing about your polka dots that makes it your exclusive original design, and therefore, it is not copyrightable.  Your comments would be appreciated.

While their response relates to me as an individual consumer, it says nothing about their right to copyright polka dots. I can only assume that they either don't know how to interpret written language, or they think they have a right to copyright polka dots. Either case leaves them looking as if they might be suffering from some sort of spotted fever or some other nasty virus. Rabies, perhaps. Maybe something along the order of hydropolkadottophobia. (I just made that up. There really is no disease called hydropolkadottophobia. You can breathe easy now.)

So that's all I have to say on this. In other words, dots my story, and I'm sticking to it. But you really would hate it if I closed without one more polka dot image, wouldn't you?

The End.