Bespoke property rights: who owns the pattern / last?

[SilkCity]

I've already willingly and gratefully ceded my soul to Caraceni (Rome); thus everything else must follow.

[AlexanderKabbaz]

The photograper owns the right to the picture as well, even though you might have paid him to photograph you.

Having been a bit intimate with this field a while back, in my experience you have stated the default, sans "pre-nup", circumstance. However, in this particular arena, ownership of the photos (and negatives) is often a negotiated agreement. Such is the common pactice in the field of photography.

In the bespoke trades, in common practice it is always accepted that the maker owns all of the tools which enabled the creation. The pattern/last/tamplate is but one of those tools even if it is created solely for one individual.

[Peterboy]

Gentleman,
With all the respect, as a bespoke shoemaker myself, I would say that a pair of bespoke lasts are as personal for the lastmaker as the customer itself. Every house and lastmaker has its own culture and style and therefore is it respectless to bring it with you to a different house. In my shop every client is buying and paying for shoes and shoetrees, not lasts, it is a part of the local faculties.

J.P.Myhre
bespoke.shoes@mac.com