I came up with an original (I think) design for a shirt that has the priceless ending. I have seen some t-shirts and even commercials that use the "priceless" ending. Is that something that someone has protected, or as long as my text is orginial do you think it is ok to use?
I came up with an original (I think) design for a shirt that has the priceless ending. I have seen some t-shirts and even commercials that use the "priceless" ending. Is that something that someone has protected, or as long as my text is orginial do you think it is ok to use?
Hard to imagine how Mastercard could claim all statements that end in priceless. I am not trying to sell credit cards, but I guess that doesn't really matter to the law.
Hard to imagine how Mastercard could claim all statements that end in priceless. I am not trying to sell credit cards, but I guess that doesn't really matter to the law.
Well, I think the problem is that you would be trying to profit from the commercial that they spend thousands of dollars marketing.
I don't think they do claim all the rights to the word "priceless", but when you put the cost of a list of things and then end the last phrase with "priceless", then it seems likely that you would be trying to mimic their commercial and play off that success.
I'm not a lawyer or anything...that's just my guess as to how they might be protected.
If you wanted an official opinion on whether or not you could use it, you would most likely need to ask a lawyer. I could be totally wrong about the usage rules.
It is definitely trademarked, and they have definitely enforced that. I am 100% sure of both of those things. I don't know what the outcome of any legal action was.
It might be usable under parody exceptions, but that's extremely dangerous ground. The most recent related case would be the Starbucks parody t-shirt... which Starbucks won on the basis of the difference between parody artwork, and parody profit making through t-shirt sales.
In short, you're on extremely thin ice trying to use it and you should definitely pursue legal advice if you don't want to abandon the idea.
What's interesting to me is that my larger concern would be that even your original take on this idea is not that original. I don't mean it as an insult to you, but just that I think there have been a bazillion different variations of this including whole websites devoted to it. (although I can't find the one I was thinking of) I just think you might find if you ask around with your friends, etc... that the idea is kind of played out
__________________ I am not a woman. I am a man. It's just a nickname. Honest.
Are Priceless T-shirts protected 
I am not a woman. I am a man. It's just a nickname. Honest.
