Uneasy....

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

That's it, I'm suing you for copyright infringement of my copyright infringement clause. You will hear from my lawyer (once he stops laughing and takes a few Tylenol).   

Crooked, (can I call you Crook for short?  )....I will pm you my whole form. Feel free to use what you need, glad I could help!

VERY hurtful.  You know how sensitive us tee shirt printers can be. 

I think I'll go eat some worms.

[Ron Pierson]

One word - walk!

[Donnie]

Had a subsequent phone conversation with the wife. I expressed my concerns. She assured me that what I saw was just going to be used as a template for the layout. All art was going to be re-drawn.  I did not get a copy of the original so I will have to go by memory. But I guess a bigger question or concern would be is how is a printer supposed to have full knowledge of of every image presented to them as art. I know when I started out, the guy who did my art seemed to be a great artist. He blew me away at how quick he could get a job to me. One day I was at a trade show and I noticed on one of the Sample shirts at a both an exact component of art that was also present in one of my designs. I knew then that he was pretty handy at jacking sh!t. I quit using him. It would seem to me to be almost impossible to know if an obscure piece came into your shop via third party if it was pirated... unless of course it was a widely recognized logo.

[Sbrem]

Well, if it's not a well known character or item (Mickey Mouse, or a Ford Cobra) how would one know? But many years ago when my boss had me printing Fonzie t-shirts, he got a letter from Paramount Television telling him to simply "Cease and desist", which we did, no more after that. I don't think they wanted to spend the money to prosecute for small potatoes. So, for a short run, it may be determined that you were not trying to rip anyone off, just printing a job that came in. As I said earlier, when searching out a pinstriping design someone wanted me to take off his shirt (not if I can find it online) and I discovered it was copyrighted, I let it slide when the end user balked at the licensing fee. It's easier to research now than it was years ago, but it's still a pain. In the end, we simply won't print what we know is copyrighted without written permission from the copyright holder. I've also learned that the lack of a © or ® or ™ is meaningless, the holder simply has to prove the creation date. In this vein, we handle some school drama departments putting on Annie Jr., or a Disney play, but the package they buy will come with the right to use the images and make t-shirts (with limits) for the event.

Steve

[blue moon]

A liability waiver can be a good thing. It at least raises the issue of infringement with the customer and might help you recover any losses if there is an issue (assuming there are assets to be had). But a liability waiver does not have any legal standing between you and another party (such as a trademark or copyright holder). It doesn't prevent you from being included in any legal action and definitely doesn't help in any way provide legal cover for obvious infringement. Remember, as a printer in the trade you would be held to a higher standard than a layman. It has been my experience that most customers that I felt needed to sign a Liability Waiver didn't actually have the assets to cover any losses, so I didn't find them useful.

there is no such thing as liability waiver, only a contract in which one party assumes all expenses in case there is a problem. Contracts are binding, wavers are not.

pierre

p.s. Donni, I would stya away from anybody who uses law suit in every third sentence!

[3Deep]

we handle some school drama departments putting on Annie Jr., or a Disney play, but the package they buy will come with the right to use the images and make t-shirts (with limits) for the event.

We get the same stuff when we print for the drama club plays, and all images are return to then as they gave then to us.

[Gilligan]

A liability waiver can be a good thing. It at least raises the issue of infringement with the customer and might help you recover any losses if there is an issue (assuming there are assets to be had). But a liability waiver does not have any legal standing between you and another party (such as a trademark or copyright holder). It doesn't prevent you from being included in any legal action and definitely doesn't help in any way provide legal cover for obvious infringement. Remember, as a printer in the trade you would be held to a higher standard than a layman. It has been my experience that most customers that I felt needed to sign a Liability Waiver didn't actually have the assets to cover any losses, so I didn't find them useful.

there is no such thing as liability waiver, only a contract in which one party assumes all expenses in case there is a problem. Contracts are binding, wavers are not.

pierre

p.s. Donni, I would stya away from anybody who uses law suit in every third sentence!

So are places like B2Sign just rolling the dice as they have literally told me, "we just print whatever you send us".

[Gilligan]

That's what I'm always trying to understand.

If I sent this to Donnie or someone up north that does lots of "mail order" types of orders.  Would anyone of them bat an eye?



These guys take this trademark very serious and they should, it's very popular down here.

[screenxpress]

I see the conundrum. 

I have no idea what that image represents and would probably not blink if asked to print it.

[Gilligan]

And Wayne is 4 hours from me and what 2.5 hours from the Louisiana border, which has a high concentration of hunting and fishing... Actually we are jealous of that area.

We were recently asked to print this image on a sleeve of a shirt.  Had to go round and round explaining that flipping it, making the hook a little longer doesn't get around the copyright.  These guys send out cease and desist letters to anyone they can.

Now add to that, we created two of these in our own versions... Completely different and we have them trade marked and copyrighted, but ours are not nearly as popular as this original.  It was a way to offer something similar and we hoped it would take off.  NONE of you guys would know it was protected and I imagine anything less that an expensive search wouldn't help you find out it was.

[Sbrem]

That's what I'm always trying to understand.

If I sent this to Donnie or someone up north that does lots of "mail order" types of orders.  Would anyone of them bat an eye?



These guys take this trademark very serious and they should, it's very popular down here.

My first reaction would be, "Clever design..." but now I ask, "Who came up with that?", with the answer something like "I got it off the internet" or the aforementioned, "It's OK if we change it a little to get around that..." We have have to be wary, no two ways about it.

Steve

[Gilligan]

But if they were legitimately trying to bootleg it (is that possible?) they would lie. Maybe say "a friend did it for me".