[BitB_Shirts]

I am still new to this business, I have a website and I am expanding. I have a featured artist section, and I need some advice for legal protection. I want to know if other people here have a form that they have their "custom" order customers sign that protects you if they are using a copyrighted image, that you don't know is copyrighted. The other question that I have, but I might make a new thread for is paying royalties... but I'll wait to see on my first question.

 

[kimura-mma]

While it is a good idea to have customers sign an agreement regarding copyrighted material, it will not offer you full legal protection from an infringement lawsuit. If you are printing and selling t-shirts, you have a responsibility to make sure you are not reproducing registered intellectual property, even if the artwork was supplied to you by a customer.

That said, copyrights and trademarks are considerably different. If you reproduce artwork that was unintentionally and arbitrarily similar to existing copyrighted material, that would be difficult for someone to collect damages from you. But if you reproduce artwork that contains trademarked material, it is much easier for the IP owner to prove infringement and collect damages.

 

[BitB_Shirts]

Yeah, I guess what I am talking about is if I have a bachelorette party or small group have say, a dozen shirts made, supply me some artwork that I can't honestly say one way or another is copyrighted. Should I take some steps to protect myself, or is it not as big of a deal as I am thinking it is.

Maybe it's a better idea just to ask the person? I just felt that having some form of release will at least give me a better piece of mind, and maybe make them consider not not trying to pass copyrighted material in the first place.

 

[kimura-mma]

It's really something that you have to consider on a case by case basis. Random IP owners are not going to be strolling by your shop looking at what artwork you are using. They would only know about it when seen in the marketplace.

So a dozen shirts being used for a bachelorette party is unlikely to bring legal action. Even if it does, it's unlikely the IP owner would dig deep enough to find the printer. They would probably just sue the person responsible for the party.

But if you are printing something that your customer is intending to resell through a website or store, then there's a more legit chance of being sued if they are infringing on existing IP. And in that case, the IP owner may be more inclined to find out where the shirts were printed and could take action against you if they find you at fault in some way.

You probably won't need a release in all situations, but it is a good idea to have one handy. It will definitely accomplish the two things you mentioned... give you piece of mind and alert your customer of the potential issue of infringement.

Sorry, I don't have any such release to offer. Perhaps someone else will be able to help out with it.

 

[BitB_Shirts]

Thanks Tim, those are really helpful tips to work with. I have found a few different releases that I might be able to tweak via LegalZoom. Now I just need to focus on how to run my Featured Artist section, I've never looked into paying royalties. I'm not sure if I need to go as far as to write up some kind of License agreement or if I can make a simpler form that just states what both parties are expecting.