[Jewelry making - Article 00029] - Re: [Orchid] Legal Question

[Karen Goeller]

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Karla,

    Your question is an interesting one because it touches on the
    subtleties in copyright and trademark law.  But here's a way to think
    about it more clearly: 

    If you are "quoting" a source (i.e., "that was a Lalique vase" or
    "That's a Tiffany window") you are providing attribution of the
    original work.  You are giving the original artist the credit for
    their creation.  (Like when you wrote a paper in school and created
    your bibliographic references!) 

    If you are, on the other hand, "claiming" to be the source (i.e., "I
    created this Lalique vase" or "I created this piece of Tiffany
    glass"), then you had better have the legal right to use the trade
    name owned by the company (or family or artist) in question.  (As
    though you plagiarized that paper by representing it as your work
    when it was really copied and pasted from someone else's paper.) 

    So in your case, you created pieces "in the style of X" to enhance
    originals by X.  You are not claiming to have invented the style or
    claiming original design, and you are not representing your work "as"
    that "brand."  Rather, your work is designed to accompany work by the
    other artist and to replicate his/her style of work.  Therefore, you
    are attributing the original artist's work, and that all falls under
    Fair Use Doctrine in U.S. Copyright law. 

    If you are not sure about this, you can read the law yourself
    (google "fair use") and/or consult an intellectual property attorney. 

Does that help?

Karen Goeller
kgoeller AT nolimitations.com
Hand-crafted artisan jewelry
http://www.nolimitations.com

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