This section of the forum is for discussing the business and finance issues of the t-shirt industry. Which business structure to use (sole proprietor, LLC, S Corp, etc), how to handle billing, where to register your business and get the proper licensing, etc.
I have a t shirt line that combines both music and fashion. Say I want to put Madonnas name, a certain song of hers, and the album its from on a t shirt to give the audience an idea of how the design was inspired. Is this legal? or do I need her permission?
Sorry Steve...no matter how you slice it...if you are using a celebrity's name in any manner to sell or decorate an item for commercial use/sale and you do not have permission or license...you are illegal...
okay looks like I cant put the artist name on the shirt. Any ideas how I can get the point across that the designs were inspired by an artist legally. My whole concept is a music inspired clothing company.
Maybe you could just promote your entire line as "inspired by famous musical works" or something like that. You could have a blog to list your inspirational pieces. Or better yet, have people try to guess the inspirational tune & give the winner a shirt. Everybody loves a contest.
Good luck
__________________ 350tees.com Talk Is Cheap, Especially On Our Shirts
Create your designs, give each a title that your audience (customers) will be able to deduce who the artist is that inspired you, and write a short descriptive tag for each shirt telling how it came about.
"Any blond with an ounce of ambition, will love wearing this sequined..."
I agree with Triple-T, use your imagination to pull off what you want without making it obvious (or even close to copying someone elses work). The thing to keep in mind about copyright laws is not to do it, in most cases a copyright infringement can be sued the same as counterfeiting, yep, the same laws as printing money can apply (so federal charges). There was a local shop busted years ago for printing Disney stuff, not exact but just close - they took his entire business and was fined over 300K BEWARE of what you are getting in to.
Is it legal to do this? 
