Members DavidL Posted May 11, 2014 Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 Im pondering the potential idea of screen printing images onto leather and selling various products that have copy righted images or images of celebrities. If I was to print a bob marley image onto a wallet or a famous quote will that fly? The rules seem to be very loose with what can be used when selling items. There are many shirts of bob marley on the front, many of the small one man companies most likely didn't get a licensing agreement. Can you be sued for this? Some say that its okay to use copy righted material as long as its a custom order and not pre produced. Has anyone sold any items leather related or not that have popular imagery? Quote
Members RavenAus Posted May 11, 2014 Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 This sort of question is one you ask a lawyer, not a leatherworker. Look at it this way though. If you were a photographer and someone was making money from your images, would you want recognition and recompense? Quote Kind regards, Raven http://wolfscrafts.com/
electrathon Posted May 11, 2014 Report Posted May 11, 2014 Simple answer. Personal use Ok. Selling it, not ok. People do violate the laws all the time, you likely will not get caught if you keep it off line. Of course the long answer is way more complicated than this. Until you loose in court it is unlikely you will really understand the complexity of it. Quote
Members DavidL Posted May 11, 2014 Author Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 Just wondering if anyone sells things on etsy or whatnot w/ screen printing on their pieces or tooling of characters (which I have seen a few). Don't have any lawyer contacts right now (out of my budget). Id probably want some pay if I was a photographer for sure, if I was the owner of Mario I wouldn't mind unless it hurts my brand. Probably would get sued by nintendo if I did a large line of Mario products without licensing. A small line of handmade or inspired by mario goods is a grey area. My gut says it won't be their radar, they do have the right to sue though. Anyone dealt with this specifically Quote
Contributing Member JLSleather Posted May 11, 2014 Contributing Member Report Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) Yes. You can be sued. You don't even need to sell it - just reproduce it. Selling it will more likely get you sued, because the owner of the property can show "damages". This has been done (and still is) to no end. Here's a few 'what ifs' to make the point. A cartoon mouse with big ears and mittens is trademark violation. If it doesn't say "MIcky", you can STILL be sued. Volume is immaterial. Guy here was on the news a month or so ago for making a couple dozen t-shirts with the ISU "cyclone" colors. They didn't say ISU, they didn't reference the cyclones, and the people who got them really were ISU grads. Still trademark violation (in this case, no prosescution - they were just ordered to stop making the shirts). "Everybody does it" is not a suitable legal defense. It won't work - unless you're comforted by the idea not being sued alone. Often, infringement is allowed to go on (as in not enforced). Harley Davidson stuff is everywhere - I mean the stuff NOT done by HD. One guy told me years ago that you can make stuff (his thing was "biker" wallets) with the little logo "shield" as long as it didn't say the name. He found out that wasn't the case, though he was informed without prosecution. And THERE is the 'rub'. We've all agreed not to share that software, we've all said we're not going to share those patterns, etc... In the end, it comes down not to is it legal, but is it ENFORCED? I personally don't mess with it. Because it was not enforced yesterday doesn't mean it wont be enforced tomorrow. Just using HD for a 'what if' .. you might make those belts and wallets for 10 years without incident. Then one day, here comes someone who says they can show you have been causing them to lose revenue for the last 10 years, and you're --- well -- let's just say it aint good. OH, yeah .. .that guy is still after me like 4 years later to make him a Pittsburgh Steelers belt. Thank you, no ... Edited May 11, 2014 by JLSleather Quote "Observation is 9/10 of the law." IF what you do is something that ANYBODY can do, then don't be surprised when ANYBODY does.
Members DavidL Posted May 11, 2014 Author Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 Thats probably best for me not to touch it if theres a chance il get in trouble. What about celebrities or quotes? They can't sue you for using there face right? Quote
Members cem Posted May 11, 2014 Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) Speak to a lawyer that specialises in copyright and trademarks or at the very least read through the information here http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca Yes celebrities can sue you for using their likeness there has been numerous cases regarding it. Edited May 11, 2014 by cem Quote
Members veedub3 Posted May 11, 2014 Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 The last thing you want to do is get legal advice off a leatherworking forum. An IP Attorney would be the one to contact and some will give you a phone consultation for free. The mere fact that you asked the question leads me to believe that deep down you know the answer to this question. The rules aren't loose! Infringing on a persons Copyright/Trademark is illegal. There is no misunderstanding that, It's that simple. You see people printing copyrighted images all the time, but what you personally don't know for a fact is if they have prior consent or not. There is simply know way for you to tell. My guess is that they don't have prior permission, but because they are doing it illegally, does not make it right for me to do it. It is in fact illegal. You can not profit off of someones intellectual property without prior consent. You get caught and you just may have to pay the price. Is that worth the risk? Now as a Screen Printer/Embroiderer myself, I can confirm that printing Copyright/Trademarked images without prior consent can get you into a mass of trouble. I have been in the screen printing business since 2001, and in the early years, I was sued twice and sent countless Cease and Desist letters. The two lawsuits together cost me nearly $48,000 to settle. The judge told me that "ignorance of the law was no excuse" and hit me with a fine that he said hopefully would deter me from doing it again. Trust me I never crossed that line again, that was 12 years ago. IMO it is simply not worth the risk! Karina Quote "The only man who makes no mistake, is the man who does nothing." Theodore Roosevelt
Members veedub3 Posted May 11, 2014 Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 What about celebrities or quotes? They can't sue you for using there face right? Yes they can sue you for using their likeness. Celebrities get paid when their image is used, so why would they let someone else profit from that? But like everyone has already stated, you need to seek professional legal advice. Karina Quote "The only man who makes no mistake, is the man who does nothing." Theodore Roosevelt
Members DavidL Posted May 11, 2014 Author Members Report Posted May 11, 2014 Okay il contact an ip consultant if it won't cost anything and make sure I'm protected. Quote
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