just try doing a google search for "protecting idea's and/or inventions". u should get a heathy amount of different resouces.....
T Shirt Patents?
I have come up with a T-Shirt idea how do i go about making sure no body else has this idea and where I can go about making sure no body can take it from me? I appreciate any feed back. Thanks
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I am not an attorney but this info. is from my own research, so you need to investigate this as much as you can on your own. I am just trying to help with a few things I have learned.I have come up with a T-Shirt idea how do i go about making sure no body else has this idea and where I can go about making sure no body can take it from me? I appreciate any feed back. Thanks
If it is a new process to decorate or manufacture a shirt you could try to patent that idea. You would want to go to a patent attorney. They will give you an idea if it is patentable. They may give you a free consult. It will be expensive to do, but may be worth it. You can get a lot of information from: United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page There are resources listed on this website in the site navigation column. You can also google "copyright" and "patent" and you will find a lot of reading I am sure.
If it is a trademark, you can research that yourself through the government resources listed in the site navigation on this site, or you can pay a private company to research it for you-if you are serious about protecting a name- a patent attorney could help you with that or provide the name of a research company. Trademarks are for logos or so a customer can identify a brand and not get confused with a similar item.
If it is a saying and/or art, then it is copyright, that you want to protect your work. You can copyright through the government, but I have been told technically by an attorney the copyright is yours as soon as it is in print. No one has the right to use your work w/o paying you a fee if it is your design or idea. ( I have also heard-it will hold up better in court if it is copyright protected through the government.)
You can put your own copyright information ©name2008 etc. at the bottom of your design to show that the work is yours. That is your legal claim and should be respected. You can sell people or companies a license to use your work or saying, or share it for free, that is your decision. Most creative people respect the art, sayings, and photographs of others, however some business people do not. Some people just want to see their art "out there" and they may post it for free use. If you are buying blank shirts the shirt is selling because of the the fabric , cut etc. but if the shirt is decorated the odds are it is selling because of the design and graphics and that artist/writer has claim to that.
If you pay someone or a company to design something for you, "work for hire" then you are contracting the work out and that is altogether different-and you make your own agreement on that design/work. Oftentimes, companies buy artwork or pay an artist and have their own commercial license to use art for their business.
If you are sending a company your artwork to manufacture a product for you, you can have them sign a "non-disclosure agreement" very simple and common, (you can buy them ready made or maybe find them on line,) saying that they can not use your business ideas, sayings/art for anything other than work for your company. You usually fax that to the person manufacturing the item and they fax a signed copy right back.
You can send yourself a copy of the material/graphic you want to protect, via REGISTERED mail, and leave the envelope unopened, and file it in a safe place. It costs about $10 to mail it, and it is registered officially in the post office, and signed, stamped and dated. You can write in pencil on the back of the envelope what is inside, for yourself if you start a file of these. If it is left unopened and then opened in court someday it is considered a legal document. They call this a "poor man's patent" For $10 it couldn't hurt.
Also if you write a file in Photoshop, you can put your own copyright info. on your art before you send it out (I not sure how it works with other programs) You click on "file" then "file info." then you can fill in the description area, and then you can from the "file info." area also click on "origin" and fill in your information. there.
I don't know alot about "watermarking" but people get their work digitally watermarked, so it can be traced if it appears on the web etc.
I think that is mostly for photographs.
This may seem overboard to some, but there are many people who would take a design and resell it as their own, and then some honest person could pay to use it, and end up getting sued. Someone in my town had the same saying as someone else for a touristy shirt at a racetrack near me, and $5,000 worth of merchandise was taken from the vendor by the government.
Hope this helps.
Thank you I really do appreciate it!!!
I'm pretty sure this doesn't work....
You can send yourself a copy of the material/graphic you want to protect, via REGISTERED mail, and leave the envelope unopened, and file it in a safe place. It costs about $10 to mail it, and it is registered officially in the post office, and signed, stamped and dated. You can write in pencil on the back of the envelope what is inside, for yourself if you start a file of these. If it is left unopened and then opened in court someday it is considered a legal document. They call this a "poor man's patent" For $10 it couldn't hurt
....
Focus on Patents - Can't I just mail it to myself
http://www.clickandcopyright.com/poor_mans_copyright.asp
In the US it's actually necessary to register the work in order to start legal proceedings.( I have also heard-it will hold up better in court if it is copyright protected through the government.)
Actually it's called the poor man's copyright myth on account of being a myth. I don't know where you heard it's a way of producing a legal document, but you were misinformed.If it is left unopened and then opened in court someday it is considered a legal document. They call this a "poor man's patent"
I would rather stand corrected, than to mislead someone. So I'll say I stand corrected. I appreciate the feedback from you guys-I know it will cost me $400 bucks to double check with my attorneyIn the US it's actually necessary to register the work in order to start legal proceedings.
Actually it's called the poor man's copyright myth on account of being a myth. I don't know where you heard it's a way of producing a legal document, but you were misinformed.
TID I went to the "clickandcopyright" site you posted. They talked about hiring print investigators etc. to prove the postmark, if you just mailed it to yourself. I was told to use "Registered Mail to mail it to yourself." A "registered mail" document is a legal record-kept at the post office of that mail item. I guess that's irrelevant if it's a patentable idea, maybe irrelevant for copyright too.
copyright law protects your design. I believe you need to sell one across state lines with an Invoice to show date and proof of sale for future issues should someone "knock your design off exactly" Again read on line articles which you give greater understanding as to the realities of selling anything and the bootlegging/counterfeiting that affects all brands and designers
Having read all the posts, educated yourself and filed appropriate documents with the correct offices..then what???? Problem now begins...Let say someone does copy your design/idea...you will have to engage an attorney to file and proceed...here is the issue..do you have sufficient funds to do this? If the offender does not stop, cost to you can be in the thousands...I know of no government/official agency who will fight for you. Something to consider
The problem is that doesn't prove you didn't tamper with the envelope. It proves something was sent on that date, and nothing more. Whereas an actual filing puts the actual intellectual property in contention on record.I was told to use "Registered Mail to mail it to yourself." A "registered mail" document is a legal record-kept at the post office of that mail item. I guess that's irrelevant if it's a patentable idea, maybe irrelevant for copyright too.
Yeah, that was a bit of a red herring.I went to the "clickandcopyright" site you posted. They talked about hiring print investigators etc. to prove the postmark, if you just mailed it to yourself.
When it deals with something small like a slogan or a shirt design, all you are ultimately doing is registering your right to later sue someone for stealing your work. There is nothing to stop unscrupulous people from stealing someones work. The only thing you can do is protect your right to try to hold them accountable in the legal system.
I say 'try to hold them accountable' because for a lot of the small guys, you will never get any money out of them. They will simply file bankruptcy and come back up under another name. At a place I worked for a short time, we had an account that owed us over $400K. They ended up settling it for $15K because all the merchandise was gone and that's what it would have cost him to file chapter 11 and come up under another name. He'd done it before to others so he had the scam down very well...
I say 'try to hold them accountable' because for a lot of the small guys, you will never get any money out of them. They will simply file bankruptcy and come back up under another name. At a place I worked for a short time, we had an account that owed us over $400K. They ended up settling it for $15K because all the merchandise was gone and that's what it would have cost him to file chapter 11 and come up under another name. He'd done it before to others so he had the scam down very well...
You're actually copyrighting the design, you are not getting a patent on it. This is a pretty important distinction as different rules apply.
Sending yourself a letter will not protect your copyright. Copyright automatically comes into play upon creation of something. You don't have to register it with the USPTO or do anything special. Once it is created, it is yours. Registering it is only required if you want to sue someone for copyright infringement.
Early exposure helps because it helps to prove you created the image before someone else did. If you can show your picture was online before someone else's helps to show that you did not copy someone else's work, they actually copied yours. Yours was there first.
Sending yourself a letter will not protect your copyright. Copyright automatically comes into play upon creation of something. You don't have to register it with the USPTO or do anything special. Once it is created, it is yours. Registering it is only required if you want to sue someone for copyright infringement.
Early exposure helps because it helps to prove you created the image before someone else did. If you can show your picture was online before someone else's helps to show that you did not copy someone else's work, they actually copied yours. Yours was there first.
To find out if others have had this idea, you can do google searches on the internet for it. You might find others doing it online or not.I have come up with a T-Shirt idea how do i go about making sure no body else has this idea and where I can go about making sure no body can take it from me? I appreciate any feed back. Thanks
Don't sit on your idea for to long. Print it and start making money. Do the necessary legal stuff, but remember that you will need a considerable amount of money to enforce your copyright, patent or trademark. So produce your product and sell the heck out of it.
R.
R.
I have a question for you...you seem to be knowledgeable on this topic. Lets just say that no t-shirt company had ever put imprints of leaves on shirts...not that I think its a good idea but lets use it. So if nobody has ever done that and you decide to come out with a line that puts imprints of leaves on your shirts. Is there a way that you can protect any other shirt companies from putting leaf imprints on their shirts?
Nope.Is there a way that you can protect any other shirt companies from putting leaf imprints on their shirts?
Putting leaf imprints on shirts is a pretty general idea. You cannot copyright an idea, only an expression of an idea. So you can copyright a very specific leaf design. But that would not protect against someone from imprinting a different leaf design, and you would not have any legal recourse.
You can try to trademark a leaf logo. But the mark would have to represent something... a brand, company, team, etc. So if someone imprinted a leaf design, you would need to prove that it creates conflict in the marketplace with your brand. That would probably be difficult to prove in this instance.
But the bigger issue is this... There is no way to prevent someone from stealing any of your designs or ideas. You can only register your trademark or copyright, which gives you the legal right to take action against someone who infringes on your registration.
The simple answer is NO. The designs themselves are copyrighted by virtue of being produced and sold across state lines. Once you have an invoice showing this, you have established a date and time of publication, so to speak. Any legal beagles out there that want to chime in, please do so.
So sell, sell, sell, that is the important goal.
So sell, sell, sell, that is the important goal.
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