Copyright law relating to objects

[Sussexstitcher]

I have UK-based company selling embroidery kits.

I have taken my own photos of crowns in the British royal collection and embroidered versions of them, and now wish to sell them as embroidery kits for others to buy and stitch themselves.

The embroidered crowns are small (approx. 2-3” tall, 1-2” wide) so there is a limit to how realistic they are / how faithfully they can be reproduced. My kits do not include photographs of any of the physical crowns, only photos of my embroidered version of the crown for the stitcher to use as a stitching guide when following the kit’s instructions.

I have two questions as follows:
1. Would the sale of these kits breach UK copyright given that I based the design on someone else’s possession? To reiterate, my design is from my own photo and the design is too small for the crown to be reproduced faithfully.
2. Can I refer in my instructions to the actual name of the crown eg. Imperial State Crown, St Edward’s Crown, Tudor Crown etc, or does using the official name compromise me in terms of copyright?

[AndyJ]

Hi Sussexsticher and welcome to the forum,

Given that the majority of the Royal Regalia you mention was created a very long time ago, copyright is unlikely to subsist in them today. And even if that was not the case, your embroidered reproductions probably lack sufficient direct copying to constitute infringement.

However there is a second, possibly more important, aspect to this which doesn't concern copyright and that is, there are strict lese majesty rules about using certain royal regalia and likenesses thereof. You can read about this subject here: https://www.royal.uk/sites/default/file ... t20152.pdf

If you are in any doubt about whether your products might fall foul of these rules, I suggest it would be prudent to contact the Lord Chamberlain's office for guidance. My feeling is that you have nothing to worry about, but I have no idea how strictly these rules are enforced, hence my suggestion. Details of where to seek guidance here: Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA