[onlineexpo]

hi everyone,

not sure I don't sound ridiculous to most of those who read this, but I am just a beginner with lots of questions and stuff. one of those sounds like this: if you are selling a t-shirt with real people's faces instead of all the familiar faces on, say, the oh-so-famous Reservoir Dogs poster, is it infrengement of copyrights?? and if it is, is there any way around it?

thanks!

 

[WearMagic]

Copyrighted material can get you into TROUBLE, even if you alter it slightly, I would stay away unless you get permission from the copyright owner.

 

[Dan K]

Yeah don't print copyright infringement stuff if you want to stay above water... Bad news, especially stuff like movies, cars, sports teams, etc.

There was a dude who will remain nameless who asked us to print some Morrissey shirts a while back. He was from the UK. I told him no, it was infringement and we wouldn't do it. He got very upset and sent me some lousy emails. I told him to stuff it (not a very good business practice by the way), he responded and said that we were '****' and made some references to us being in Oakland and Oakland was full of '****' and 'n _ _ _ _ _ _ s' (racial epithet not worth repeating) and that he was going to post up a bunch of negative stuff about us 'on the many t shirt forums he writes for'. Interesting way to go about getting a job printed, but the funny part to me is that I see that he posted up here on TSF a couple times last year, but never anything about us.

Moral of the story is, if someone is trying to print or get printed copyrighted merch, they are not moral people, and you probably don't want them as customers, or to be their customer. To stay on the high road in business will pay off in the end with success.

 

[Rodney]

hi everyone,

not sure I don't sound ridiculous to most of those who read this, but I am just a beginner with lots of questions and stuff. one of those sounds like this: if you are selling a t-shirt with real people's faces instead of all the familiar faces on, say, the oh-so-famous Reservoir Dogs poster, is it infrengement of copyrights?? and if it is, is there any way around it?

thanks!

Since this is a legal question, it's best that we steer clear of it. There are plenty of topics that cover copyright and trademark and using famous images in parody that you can find by using the search box at the top of the forum.

The usual recommendations apply:

- Talk to lawyer if you want to do something that you think might be illegal or have a legal question. They will be the ones that can help you and even then, you could still get sued. But at least then, if you get sued and they said it was probably "ok", then at least you have someone that can go to court for you.

- Any "ways around it" advice given in a forum could get you sued. Even if 1000 people tell you it's OK, you could still get sued and have to come up with a lawyer and defend your right to do it.

- Why do you see other people doing it? Here's a good answer that was posted here before:

The usual story:

• Some do whatever they want and wait for the cease and desist letter (and hope the company doesn't skip over it)
• Some can afford lawyers to defend on the basis of parody, etc.
• Some are in the process of getting sued and losing
• Some are in the process of getting sued and winning
• Some are just lucky and not getting caught
• Some are just lucky and not getting caught... yet
• Some will plan to settle out of court
• Some are ignorant of the law and don't realise the world of hurt that is coming
• Some are carefully staying on the right side of the legal divide
• Some are carefully staying on the right side of the legal divide, but will be sued anyway, and unable to afford an adequate legal defense even though what they were doing was theoretically legal.

In other words, some are getting away with it, some aren't.

For further reading, check out:

U.S. Copyright Office

Trademarks

copyright related topics at T-Shirt Forums

trademark related topics at T-Shirt Forums