Nefarious

Nice work!

Michael, I dont know if your response was to me or someone else, but I wanted to clarify that in my question, no one is using designs from Tandy. I'm strictly referring to the use of decorative spots, rivets, conchos, etc available from Tandy. For instance, store XYZ creates leather dog collars and decorates them with brass spots available for purchase from Tandy. They placed these brass spots in a pattern they chose. Store XYZ then sells these collars on their website for a set price. Now another store ABC see's these collars and realizes that all the spots used are available from Tandy and decides to duplicate the same pattern as seen on XYZ's website and also sell them. My question is if duplicating a pattern in this manor is wrong? All the spots are purchased from Tandy for both parties, so I dont understand if the order they are placed is copyrighted and can't be duplicated. If it is wrong, where does it stand on offering plain leather collars, leashes, belts, etc as I'm sure someone owns the right to every kind of plain leather strip with a buckle on it. I hope that makes it easier to answer.

I have a question that someone can probably answer. Thinking about dog collars and leashes and many online companies sell basic leather goods that contain studs, dots, conchos, etc. from Tandy on them. I've heard of people claiming copyright infringement because someone put the decorative bits from Tandy on in a particular way or design and someone else duplicated it. Where does the law stand on this? Can someone claim a design using decorative bits publicly available from Tandy?

I too am in Oklahoma and just getting started in leather craft. We also are getting involved in dog showing as well and our first show is next month. I'm most interested in making high quality dog collars and leashes from latigo with solid brass/nickle hardware as well as some human items like pouches, wallets, belts, etc. Tooling is not my interest by any means though. I have found that the local (OKC) Tandy will tell you what you want to hear and direct you to products they claim you "need" to increase their profit. Shopping online and doing a lot of research and asking questions seems to be the best way to go. It looks like you have a nice setup in your home. Good luck.