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Zazzle users somehow get to license logos?

17K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  TeedUp 
#1 ·
I was Christmas shopping for t-shirts for my teenagers and I'd type in "Zombie" at Google just as an example...

I see Alice Cooper, Harley Davidson, KISS, etc all over Zazzle products. They're licensed? Here's an example of a zazzle that has "official" on it for Cooper t-shirts:

Alice Cooper Varsity Number T-shirt from Zazzle.com

Alice Cooper is getting a share?

KISS is a big one at zazzle, too. They aren't the usual joe blow t-shirt designers then, right?
 
#2 ·
In this case, yes, it appears as though Zazzle has an official store for Alice Cooper products.

Some of the print on demand places do have "official" clients. For example, CafePress has Star Trek, Tupac, Dilbert, etc as "official" stores.

Here's a list of officially licensed images that Zazzle works with: Create and buy personalized products using images from Disney, Star Wars, Smiley Central, Family Guy, Neopets, and more!

That being said...

You will likely find trademark/copyright infringement examples all over the web.

Especially at print on demand places that allow instant uploading of graphics. Since the upload is "instant", it's almost impossible to check whether the user followed their terms of service by uploading graphics that they own the rights to.

In those cases, the graphics may show up on the site until someone lets them know that they are there. Sometimes that "someone" is the original copyright/trademark holder in the form of a cease and desist (or lawsuit).

However, like the above examples, there are "official" stores on many of the Print on Demand places with officially licensed images.
 
#7 ·
I was Christmas shopping for t-shirts for my teenagers and I'd type in "Zombie" at Google just as an example...

I see Alice Cooper, Harley Davidson, KISS, etc all over Zazzle products. They're licensed? Here's an example of a zazzle that has "official" on it for Cooper t-shirts:

Alice Cooper Varsity Number T-shirt from Zazzle.com

Alice Cooper is getting a share?

KISS is a big one at zazzle, too. They aren't the usual joe blow t-shirt designers then, right?
Just to add, Zazzle always errs on the side of caution, and they have quite a few lines of defense against infringement. Even in case if questionable designs manage to infiltrate their market place from time to time (mostly as single items, because incoming bulk uploads are being monitored) and even if they manage to remain dormant and undetected for awhile, they would never go into production if someone places an order for such design.

Before order goes into production, well-versed copyright and TM SWAT team would immediately ID and remove such designs from the marketplace. Violators would be notified and provided with the reason for removal, and such order would be cancelled, with full refund and apology note to the customer.

In addition, such designs are being constantly reported by fellow shopkeepers and customers alike, which also results in immediate removal. Last but not least, whenever bulk uploads are being used, there is filtering in place designed to catch suspicious designs by tags, names and descriptions. So, I’d say Zazzle is one of the more cautious PODs, (if not the most) when it comes to infringement issues.
 
#9 ·
I am actually in a fight right now with zazzle over copyright, I made a shirt that says I heart Harry and it was pulled because it infringed on Harry Styles right of celebrity. I asked them if Harry Styles owned the copyright on the name Harry and they got all pissy about it that I was infringing on Harry Styles and 1 Dimension turns out the item was banned because I used the band members first names in the meta description... I mean really baning on non-infringing design that I spent a freakin hour aligning on products because of a keyword I used for the search, why not just tell me to change the tags :((
 
#13 · (Edited)
turns out the item was banned because I used the band members' first names in the meta description... I mean really baning on non-infringing design that I spent a freakin hour aligning on products because of a keyword I used for the search, why not just tell me to change the tags :((
Because by listing the band members first names (I presume you mean all the first names?) you revealed your intent, so it's too late to feign innocence. I don't know the law, but IMHO it seems to me that otherwise you'd have an argument on simply "Harry", but it certainly wouldn't be worth going to court to assert it.
 
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