# Legal issues around patterns (moved from intro thread)

**URL:** <https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180>\
**Category:** Discussion\
**Created:** [13 October 2020 01:02 UTC](https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180 "2020-10-13T01:02:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![clarissa.littler](https://forum.patternclub.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@clarissa.littler](https://forum.patternclub.org/u/clarissa.littler)\
**Post date:** [13 October 2020 01:02 UTC](https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180/1 "2020-10-13T01:02:22Z")

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Okay wait what are the legal aspects of patterns?

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**Author:** ![Tinca](https://forum.patternclub.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@Tinca](https://forum.patternclub.org/u/Tinca)\
**Post date:** [14 October 2020 15:52 UTC](https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180/2 "2020-10-14T15:52:42Z")

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Hi Clarissa, there are plenty of legal issues when it comes to patterns: [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288355967.pdf](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288355967.pdf).

Best, T.

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**Author:** ![gexahedrop](https://forum.patternclub.org/user_avatar/forum.patternclub.org/gexahedrop/32/22_2.png) [@gexahedrop](https://forum.patternclub.org/u/gexahedrop)\
**Post date:** [16 October 2020 20:10 UTC](https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180/3 "2020-10-16T20:10:26Z")

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Sir Roger Penrose, recent Nobel Laureate in Physics, sued a toilet company once:

> **[Is the 'Penrose Pattern' Used
In Kleenex's Toilet Paper?](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB860978392483692000)**
>
> Renowned mathematician
> Sir Roger
> Penrose sued Kimberly-Clark for breach of copyright after noticing a series
> of interlocking diamonds on the company's Kleenex quilted toilet tissue
> that resemble "the Penrose Pattern," a geometric formula he devised...

[http://bit-player.org/2017/sir-roger-penroses-toilet-paper](http://bit-player.org/2017/sir-roger-penroses-toilet-paper)

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**Author:** ![Jones](https://forum.patternclub.org/user_avatar/forum.patternclub.org/jones/32/73_2.png) [@Jones](https://forum.patternclub.org/u/Jones)\
**Post date:** [19 October 2020 10:17 UTC](https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180/4 "2020-10-19T10:17:41Z")

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Some of my favourite evidence used against Penrose in one of his many copyright cases -  
Darb-i Imam Masjid in Isfahan, Iran. (1453)

Demonstrating five fold geometry that expresses quasicrystalline symmetry onto a flat plane, a casual six hundred years + before Penrose.

![s61IFaZdzot6zkhdLKDB2jfWo1_500](https://forum.alpaca.lurk.org/uploads/secondsite/original/1X/aba6a50b07c57029530ad1b4eaad1fbe35286f7a.jpeg) ![Darb-i_Imam_shrine_spandrel](https://forum.alpaca.lurk.org/uploads/secondsite/original/1X/a0a4f8249f4670552a08ff777a83863f518446a3.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![Tinca](https://forum.patternclub.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@Tinca](https://forum.patternclub.org/u/Tinca)\
**Post date:** [24 October 2020 17:31 UTC](https://forum.patternclub.org/t/legal-issues-around-patterns-moved-from-intro-thread/180/5 "2020-10-24T17:31:23Z")

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What a great case! Thank you for sharing it.  
Best,  
T.