Daily Wire Tip Dec. 12: Making Wire Jewelry from Patterns, and Copyright
Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
December 12, 2009
Question:
How do I get permission to sell the jewelry that I make from the patterns I get from your book and the DVD’s I bought from Wire-Sculpture?
Answer:
First, let me thank-you for your personal code of morals and ethics! With so many unscrupulous people out there today thinking nothing of taking published patterns, rewriting them a bit, adding their own pictures and then offering them for sale as their own tutorials, as designers we all respect someone like yourself.
When a designer/author publishes a design/pattern, we mean for you to use it to make either direct replications or your own versions, with the intent of either selling your work or giving it away as gifts. In the United States, two things not allowed and covered by copyright protection are reworking or duplicating the published directions for your own profit or claiming and advertising/selling a design as your own original. This applies even when selling your ‘inspired’ version, which on a small scale, can usually be covered by using a phrase such as, ‘Crystal Brooch Inspired by Jane Doe’. What ‘Inspired Design’ means has been defined in the United States federal court system.
Federal registration of a design does not have to have been done for an artist/author to be covered by Copyright laws, and as it is 100% possible for two or more people to design similar things in different parts of the country within a similar time frame, the burden of whom the design belongs to legally will usually depend on proof as to when the design was created. This is a good reason to document your work with photos, notes and sketches as soon as you can. An easy way to ‘copyright’ your design is to put all of these things into an envelope and mail it to yourself, certified, and when you receive it, do not open it, rather put it into your safe or safety deposit box. With all of our electronic abilities today, an easier way is to save everything on your computer, burn two copies to CDs, keep one for yourself and send the other to a trusted person to hold as extra security.
To read more about copyright laws in the United States, follow this link: http://lawdigest.uslegal.com/intellectual-property/copyright/7263/
And again, thanks so much for asking this question!
Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong
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can i sell jewelry that isn't my idea, correct procedure to sell others jewelry, getting permission to sell jewelry, selling jewelry from patterns create by others
Filed under:Daily Wire Jewelry Tips‚ Sales, Marketing, Shows, & Display
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Thank you for such informative newsletters. I really appreciate them.
A great guestion! I have been concerned about that exact thing. I have used them for gifts but made none to sell because I was worried about copyrights. This clears everything up for me. Thank you.
Very good question and answer!! Very informative. I saved it all to my computer. Thanks for the information.
Thank you for the information.
I am a jeweler to sell my products at the crafts fairs. I also was wondering if I could sell the things that make from the pattern or from magazines. It will be helpful for me to know. Than you for the question.
Hi Koko,
Yes, the same applies to patterns published in magazines.
I found myself looking in a number of books on beading and just a few wire wrapping books, but while looking one day, I thought – I don’t want to copy the pattern of another person. I have seen so much work that I love in different magazines that I am glad to know these patterns can be used for those of us making jewelry to sell. Thank-you!