[fronteraster]

Hello everyone. I found this forum extremely useful so i decided to make an account and hope to get some answers to my questions.

Me and a friend are getting into the clothing industry and we had a couple of questions related to the printing process regarding opacity/transparency. Is there a type of printing that doesnt support it? Would it be considered as the same color? etc.

Also, do I NEED to use pantone colors? I know about paper printing and to my knowledge, CMYK should be fine, although I dont know how it works when it comes to printing on textile.

My other concerns were the legal protections we'd have to take. We have the main company logo trademarked and we are applying for an RN number. My question is if I have to trademark the rest of the brand logos or does a DBA with the RN# suffice? Do I need to have the brand logo trademarked in order to make a DBA? Is there any other way to relate the brands back to the main company? Is there an easy way/harder way to do it? (I.e. Is Roxy doing business as Quiksilver, or is there another way to do it?)

As for copyrights, is it a priority to copyright, or should I be ok if I leave it for later? Is it a common thing to steal the designs from the t-shirts? I would think its rather hard, compared to some jpeg you can simply google.

Any comments pertaining to these subjects, regardless of my specific questions, will be greatly appreciated. We're working to get this up and running and we want to do it right.

Thanks for the help and support! Cheers!

 

[kimura-mma]

Hey fronteraster. Welcome to the forums.

printing process regarding opacity/transparency. Is there a type of printing that doesnt support it? Would it be considered as the same color? etc.

It depends on which print method you are planning on using. Check out this thread (http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t37985.html) to learn about the different methods so you can choose which is best for you.

I do believe all print methods support halftone printing. But it's important to understand that not all print shops and artwork are built the same. So once you choose a print method and a print shop and have your design ready, it's a good idea to communicate with the print shop to make sure your artwork is set up properly to print the best it can.

In regards to halftones being considered the same color, again it depends on the print method. With screen printing, for instance, printing 100% coverage of yellow ink on a black garment will be truer to the original color than if you were printing a 50% halftone of the same color. In the latter, the yellow ink would turn greenish on the black shirt. In all likelihood, you would use an underbase when printing yellow on black anyway, so as you can see, much of this depends on more specific details of what you're trying to do.

Also, do I NEED to use pantone colors? I know about paper printing and to my knowledge, CMYK should be fine, although I dont know how it works when it comes to printing on textile.

Again, depends on your print method, the capabilities of the print shop and the details of your artwork. But with screen printing, you can print as 4 color process or as spot colors (pantone colors).

My question is if I have to trademark the rest of the brand logos or does a DBA with the RN# suffice?

A DBA and RN# serve completely different purposes than a trademark, so there is no connection to them at all. If you want the legal benefits of a registered trademark, you need to have them registered with the USPTO. If that is too expensive right now, it's ok, it's not a requirement to launch your business. As you use your mark in commerce (sell product, market your website, distribute other marketing materials) you will start to gain common law trademark. This is not as strong as a federal registration, but it may be enough for now until you have the funds to register all of your marks.

Do I need to have the brand logo trademarked in order to make a DBA?

Nope, not at all. Again, these are separate applications that serve different purposes.

Is there any other way to relate the brands back to the main company? Is there an easy way/harder way to do it? (I.e. Is Roxy doing business as Quiksilver, or is there another way to do it?)

Is there a particular reason you want to relate the brands back to the main company? Generally, your corporate name would be used for business activity (banking, taxes, purchasing from vendors and suppliers, etc). But the brands are what is featured on the product and marketed to the consumer.

As long as you have your business registered with the state, and you operate legally under that business name, you may not need to get DBA's for each of the brand names.

As for copyrights, is it a priority to copyright, or should I be ok if I leave it for later? Is it a common thing to steal the designs from the t-shirts? I would think its rather hard, compared to some jpeg you can simply google.

There are ALWAYS people out there that will steal designs. There really isn't a whole lot you can do about it. Even if you copyright all of your designs, they can still be stolen. Your copyright just gives you the legal paperwork to prove your ownership. But it's expensive to track down and file lawsuits against infringement. In my personal opinion, I would focus more on protecting your brands than the individual designs. Chances are, your designs will come and go. But your brand is built to last.

 

[fronteraster]

After reading that thread and doing a bit of research, I think screen printing would be the way to go. My designs are of 1 or 2 colors only, but the shirt colors differ greatly.

Your reply was not expected. It really covered everything I needed to know! Thanks alot for your time and knowledge Really appreciate it.