Soooo, I want to throw a face on a shirt. What's the legalities to that? The image is not a heat transfer and will most likely be a silhouette so you wont exactly know who it is. Thoughts?
barack obama - you could be ok, elected officials give up their right to publicity.
lebron james - take your pick... nike, lebron himself, nba, cavaliers, players association, his agent...
michael jackson - his estate
etc... etc...
as a general rule, it's pretty difficult to obtain rights to any sort of celebrity. expect to get denied or pay big royalties.
If it will "most likely be a silhouette so you wont exactly know who it is" I don't see any problem at all. Unless I am missing something.
Dennis G
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You're missing the "won't exactly" part. If the person being depicted knows it's them, they will most certainly have every right to sue. I guess it really depends on the person and silhouette. Tiger Woods in mid-swing would be a problem. Some random Brad Pitt silhouette may not.
Somewhere, there is a person who took that photograph. And if you take it, print it on a shirt and sell it, they are 100% entitled to sue you. They may or may not win, but they can definitely bring action against you.
I'd love it. Plaster me to a billboard, I wouldn't give a ****.
From what I have read public domain changes things. If the image is a photograph thats not copyrighted and posted on the internet it's all good?
Nahh not quite. The rights to the photograph still belongs to the photographer who took the picture. If you took the picture then you own the rights to it and can do what you want with it. But just because it is on the internet does not make it free game.
I'd love it. Plaster me to a billboard, I wouldn't give a ****.
From what I have read public domain changes things. If the image is a photograph thats not copyrighted and posted on the internet it's all good?
That's the problem.
You would love, but not everybody would.
That's why there's laws against it.
Some people don't care, so those would be the ones that would freely give permission. Others would care (and it's their right to care, since it's their likeness), and wouldn't give permission.
Printing a persons image 
