Hi, ive been searching around this site but am getting confused and thought the best way to answer my question is by creating a thread.
I absolutely love the whole idea of the t-shirt selling and design business and would like nothing better than to set up a website of my own and start producing and selling designs. Right now i am using skreened.com as a start.
Now the problem is that my best work when it comes to designs is to find an image (whether its from a movie or not) and use photoshop on it and create a t-shirt.
I admit that i have ripped off a trademark in the Peroni (italian beer logo) and am not looking to do anything like that in my own store but i have a Van Damme and Sylvester Stallone t-shirt which i have designed myself through photoshopping the images.
Now, these are by no means my best designs but they both have had great success and so what im asking is whether or not i can continue making t-shirts by photoshopping images like these and sell them through my own online t-shirt store or am i better off leaving them on skreened where i am safe from copyrights etc.
Whether your using your own shop or own that someone else (skreened) owns you may be in violation of copyright laws depending on the stipulation of the copyright of the involved parties.
Many places such as these type of third party distribution places leave all copyright violations in the hands of those doing the designs (so be careful), it will say this in the agreement you first sign when accepting to use their services.
You could continue to try and sell them while researching this further and wait for either the answer to pop-up or wait to see if you receive a Cease Letter. A Cease letter is a letter from another party that explains that the design in question is a violation of some law or intellectual property (in this case copyright). The only drawback to that is the company or entity may already look for a lawsuit for damages, or loss of profit.
As you are using your own pictures/graphics you may be excluded but I unfortunately don't know all the technicalities of the copyright laws. I do know that Public Domain pictures or entities can be used so depending on what you are doing it may not be a violation at all.
Are you using the pictures as a guide? Or are you boldly just changing the colors or effects of the graphic in question?
** Depending on how you are using the original pictures or graphics can make a big difference on how and what copyright laws you must follow to be properly protected or not in violation of copyright law. **
My best suggestion would be for you to try and make all your designs either yourself or buy them from a royalty-free site. Buying graphics from sites like that you then have more documentation to support your claim of already buying the rights to use the piece.
As I said I am not 100% of how the copyright laws work and depending upon what country your from there are different standards than others. So I hope at least this gives you some ideas of what are fair practices for using graphics or pictures that others have taken and manipulating them and some good search topics to look further into (royalty free, public domain, copyright) based upon your location as well.
I was really just using those images as a base and only photoshopping them so that it looks awesome on a tee but i was always planning on editing it further. Dosent sound very promising though...
This is something i am very good at and i love doing but if im going to be caught in mind numbing bureaucracy then i might as well just keep the designs for my own personal t-shirts and nothing else. Unless there is some way i can do things that allow me to do it?
If i photoshop an image heavily will they still find a reason to copyright it? And when you say recovery of lost profits, do they only want the profits you make on the tee? if so then thats a risk i would take
I don't want to scare you out of the industry as you are from what I can tell not in violation of copyright (per I am understanding it correctly) but I just wanted to make you aware of what could happen were you in violation of the copyright laws.
I think if you are using the graphics as a base or trace layer and then going on and doing your own work you shouldn't be in any wrong doing. I myself do that for design concepts and find it to be both helpful to building my graphic capabilities and that of flavoring things that are otherwise meant for another reason.
The likely hood of someone going after a small print shop for small profit gains is not that common and will likely only result in a Cease letter sent that request you to holt any further printing of/distributing of the said design. As many times it would require more time and money for that person or company then that of what would come if it went to a court case.
I like yourself though agree I would much rather me known for my own work then to become famous or have to payback and gain in profits from those seeking it. So please don't give up the dream do to the laws that govern the protection of everyone's art or intellectual properties. Instead I encourage you to let it fuel your fire for what you have to offer this industry and those that support us.
When using an image of a famous person, such as Sylvester Stallone, there are two issues at hand.
The first being copyright - the person who originally took the photograph owns the exclusive right to that image. The only way to truly use it legally is to negotiate permission or license to use it. If you want to use the "I photoshopped it, so no one can tell what the original photo is," by all means go ahead. But you have still violated the owner's copyright and you can still be sued.
The second is the subject's right to publicity. In this case, it's Sylvester Stallone. You cannot legally put his name or likeness on a shirt and sell it, because you cannot legally profit off of him without permission or license. Unless Skreened takes responsibility for what is on their site, what you are doing is illegal and can very well get you sued.
For the clarification I thought it was something to that extent but did not want to put my foot in my mouth if I did in fact not understand it in that way.
Okay I understand what your saying but when I take a pic from a movie, I doubt the person behind the camera would have anything to do with copyright and the actor gives his/her character rights to the filmakers so that can't be right.
Did a little bit of research and found the only way I can be sued is if the company developing the movie wish to do something about it (this is provided I get big enough for them to even care).
As these type of designs are what I'm good at and I want to continue photoshopping them and releasing them to the public there seems to be only two options.
1. Continue doing it, create my online store with images more heavily photoshoped than these and hope I only get a cease letter ( if they notice it at all.
2. Or I can forget about it all together and just keep it as tiny as it is now
if there were any other options I would love to know as I have many designs sitting on my computer that I would love to release to the world but am currently afraid of these copyrights
Plain and simple it is a copyright violation. What you chose to do knowing that is your decision but how would you feel if someone photoshopped something you created and sold it?
Okay I understand what your saying but when I take a pic from a movie, I doubt the person behind the camera would have anything to do with copyright and the actor gives his/her character rights to the filmakers so that can't be right.
My copyright reference was more towards a random photo - fan taking a pic of a celebrity on the street, for instance. This scenario is even more concerning. The film's production company owns the rights and trademarks to everything involved with the film. And they most definitely can/will sue if you are creating unlicensed product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azzurro89
As these type of designs are what I'm good at and I want to continue photoshopping them and releasing them to the public there seems to be only two options.
Anything other than getting licensed would be illegal and you would be at risk of being sued. There is nothing actually stopping you from doing it. Only the consequence of potentially being sued. So it really becomes a moral issue than a legal issue. But, you've now announced your intentions on a public forum, so that should probably be a factor as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azzurro89
if there were any other options I would love to know as I have many designs sitting on my computer that I would love to release to the world but am currently afraid of these copyrights
They should probably stay where they are. But the best course of action, if you are seriously considering starting a business using unlicensed material, would be do consult an intellectual property attorney. All you are going to get here is opinion, not proper legal advice, which is what you probably need.
Plain and simple it is a copyright violation. What you chose to do knowing that is your decision but how would you feel if someone photoshopped something you created and sold it?
Very helpful. I guess ill just keep them under lock and key until i can come up with completely original designs or seek licenses from the copyrighters. Is there a place where i can easily seek license?
On the subject, i assume sites like skreened are aware of the copyright laws and protect themselves from the content but they then have a whole section bringing you to all the tees involving michael jackson and twilight. isnt that indirectly them trying to profit off a copyritten item?
I believe the easiest would be to find a distributor of licensed product, buy them and resell them. You wouldn't be allowed to design your own though, you would buy what exists. To create your own, you would have to go direct to the source - the owner of the property. Chances are a license will be expensive, you may have to pay royalties on top of the license fee and you will probably have to get all artwork approved as you go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azzurro89
On the subject, i assume sites like skreened are aware of the copyright laws and protect themselves from the content
They are aware. I don't know what protection methods they use, but they probably feel the reward outweighs the risk.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azzurro89
but they then have a whole section bringing you to all the tees involving michael jackson and twilight. isnt that indirectly them trying to profit off a copyritten item?
Trying? Depends how you define it... they didn't put the content there. Are they responsible for allowing it to happen? Yes.
It really comes down to this... there are no prevention methods in regards to a copyright/trademark/right to publicity. There are only protection methods that allow those who have been infringed to take legal action against those who infringe. So infringement happens all the time. Some get sued, some don't.
On the subject, i assume sites like skreened are aware of the copyright laws and protect themselves
They protect themselves by making their users attest they have the right to publish the content users upload. It's not feasible to pre-screen content, and it's not Skreened's fault their users are lying thieves. If the real right's holders come calling it's the dodgy users left twisting in the wind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azzurro89
isnt that indirectly them trying to profit off a copyritten item?
It's not even particularly indirect, but since copyright holders would need to prove intent, it's unlikely to get them in any trouble.
To add to the above thread: what you are doing is clearly and blatantly illegal on multiple levels (copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and personality rights infringement - you're almost taking on the whole intellectual property suite). There is some grey area, but this isn't one of them. It doesn't take an expert to tell you are in clear violation of the law.
Can i do this??? 
