[Foix]

hey everyone.. i'm new to the board and thinking about starting up a website that might sell t-shirts and other things.

I'm very new to the business world... currently reading alot of LLC books also VERY VERY new to the t-shirt world!

my first of many questions:

do most of you protect or trademark your shirt designs or sayings in any way? for example, say you had a shirt that had a custom graphic on it... something you drew yourself. and then you came up with a witty saying to go along with the drawing, put it together as a t-shirt, sold them, etc. what prevents other people from using that original witty saying, or using that original drawing, or even using the entire design (both the saying & drawing together?)


very simple question, i know, but i'm a newbie

thanks!

Foix in NJ

 

[Rodney]

Hi Foix, welcome to the T-Shirt Forums.

In general, you can trademark a "brand", but not just a slogan. You can copyright a design, but not a slogan.

Either way, the only thing stopping someone from using that original drawing would be a lawsuit or their own conscious. You should talk to a lawyer about trademark/copyright questions (I'm not one).

If you do some searches in the forum for copyright or trademark, you'll also come across previous threads with more information. Like this one:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=1459

 

[Solmu]

Either way, the only thing stopping someone from using that original drawing would be a lawsuit or their own conscious.

Their conscious conscience perhaps?