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.
Let's assume someone registers a design with the US Copyright Office. How do they know, that the design hasn't actually been copied off someone else?
Also would registering of the design be covered by International copyright? It could be that a virtually similar design already exists in another country.
The copyright is effective from the moment something is made first. I.e. if you can prove you came first, the copyright is yours.
The registration is just an aid in proving who came first. The registration is not a bullitproof evidence that you came first.
A few years ago Kimberley-Clark settled a case with Roger Penrose, as they had used a pentagram tiling, which was discovered by Roger Penrose around 1960, on toilet paper. Roger Penrose did not want his tiling humiliated by letting peoples arses be wiped with it, so he stopped Kimberley-Clark from using it.
Kimberley-Clark did not know that the same tiling was used by muslim architects hundreds of years ago, and Roger Penrose would have no chance in court against them if this fact had been known. With or without registration.
No registration would be sufficient to invalidate the original design/copyright, as it could be clearly proved it was older.
Also would registering of the design be covered by International copyright? It could be that a virtually similar design already exists in another country.
Most forum members here do not have all the answers about copyright (and most of the answers are not simple) so it is best to research for yourself a little.
I get the distinct impression, that even lawyers would struggle on some copyright issues.
With the advent of the Internet, many of us now have the opportunity to trade on a world platform. Although the concept of world copyright exists, the way it is implemented and enforced varies dramatically from country to country.
Is U.S. Copyright Office the same office as USPTO?Copyrights
The uspto has a lot of information about copyrights. And A LOT of other informations... Some time ago I got a headache from reading about patents there...
As far as copyright goes there is also the Creative Commons licensing at creativecommons.org this is not only a good alternative because it is free, but it also allows you to "Protect" your work internationally. I use CC licenses for designs posted around the various websites I submit to, or for stuff on my Blog and deviantArt Gallery. CC offers a legally valid copyright and licensing, and that is better than nothing when fighting plagiarism. International Trademarks and Copyrights involve a lot of Lawyers time and that is always expensive. For the small business or one man show a creative commons license is a viable alternative.
As far as copyright goes there is also the Creative Commons licensing at creativecommons.org this is not only a good alternative because it is free, but it also allows you to "Protect" your work internationally. .
The thought of protecting your work internationally is a nice concept, but it is the reality of implementing and enforcing international copyright that is the real problem.
You can never be totally certain that your work does not already exist in another country. This is particularly so of something as simplistic as a tee shirt design. You may be registering copyright for something that another person has legal claim to, if their design pre-dates yours.
If your work is being copied in another country, you may find enforcing that copyright is not that straightforward. This is especially so if the 'offender' has friends and family that claim you are stealing their copyright. Going to another country and making claims of theft against one of its citizens, doesn't always yield the required result.
Article: Copyright Online 
