copywrite question

[tzn_motorsports]

There has been a lot of discussion on this group about copywrited material and I got me thinking. The other day my wife took (drug)me to a fabric store. They had every disney character, NCAA team (except ND which they were out of) NFL, NBA MLB..... Here is my question. If we purchase this material and make a blanket out of it can we sell it? We have been on the craft show circuit lately selling decorative bears that I make and there are several vendors at these shows selling different characters blankets, purses, hats....

If once you purchase the material then you can do what you want to with it then what is the difference in someone who purchases a clip art package that contains a Chevy, Ford or Dodge logo re-making them? If it is not ok to use this material then why do they sell it?

Brad Tribble

**too old to be new, but too new to be old**

 

[threeputt]

Not sure, but I think it has to do with the idea of "reproducing" the artwork. If you buy an item with the logo on it and sew it into something else, you haven't reproduced the logo, now have you?

Just my first impression.

 

[giantsfan1951]

i think it's deeper than that.... the fabric store is selling the "logo" to you for your own personal use.... if you use that (blanket, hat, bear or whatever)for resale with those logos, you mught be bordering on a problem.

 

[tzn_motorsports]

That is what I thought too. I also think that they (Disney, NFL...) would have a hard time in court if they tried to fight this one. I mean, really, do they think you would buy the material and just look at it? Of course you are going to make things out of it, that is what it is made for.

Brad

 

[Fred Weiss]

I would look for any small print licensing type of limitations that accompanies the product. Many licensors handle these kind of situations by simply requiring that the artwork has had a license fee paid to them.

I used to sell special font versions to Gerber owners when I was a type dealer. The foundry's only requirement was that the purchaser also had to be buying their licensed font at the same time.

Look at it this way ... if you bought a bunch of NFL decals from an authorized source and put them on display in your sign store with additional markup and installation charges, you would not hear any complaints from the NFL.

 

[Geary]

If once you purchase the material then you can do what you want to with it......

Sorry. You CAN'T just do with it what you want to. In other words, if you buy "The Tazmanian Devil" you can obviously make stuff with it for your personal use. On the other hand, you have to purchase and agreement with the originators of the "Taz" to make stuff you profit from. And I suppose that's not as obvious to some.

~Gear

 

[Cadmn]

gear, exactly right, Sir!! I knew guys that argued with the NFL over decals they bought then incorporated them into clocks to be sold. they felt they had all the rights in the world since the decal was licensed & purchased the NFL showed them they had the right to have everything they had Taken away from them & all they could do is watch & cry. I also watched a t-shirt guy get dozens of his shirts cut up for having transfers on them even tho the transfers were legal the shirts weren't that was Jack Daniels seen too much to even think of Jacking with that type of thing.

 

[blackicefx]

Not to thread-jack, but I have seen most of my competitors using copyrighted characters and graphics. (i.e. taz, mickey mouse, movie logos, etc) When questioned, they admitted that they had no licensing to be creating or reselling these graphics. How is this possible? I want to stay competitive but don't want the lose the business to them if I cannot provide the graphics that people want.

Matthew
Black Ice FX

 

[bob]

Not to thread-jack, but I have seen most of my competitors using copyrighted characters and graphics. (i.e. taz, mickey mouse, movie logos, etc) When questioned, they admitted that they had no licensing to be creating or reselling these graphics. How is this possible? I want to stay competitive but don't want the lose the business to them if I cannot provide the graphics that people want.

You confuse an injunction against doing something with preventing someone from doing it. Not the same thing. All the former does is provide for some sort of action should you be caught doing whatever it is. Those using the questionable material are merely getting away with it and unless someone makes a big hairy deal out of it, are likely to continue to get away with it for the duration. Nonetheless, someone else's perfidious behavior is never justification for your own.

Some years back a functionary of the US Census called on us because I responded to their massive and invasive document by writing '3 people' across the front sheet and returning it. The census weenie went on at length how this data is protected by virtue of draconian penalties should anyone misuse or divulge the information. I responded that none of that prevents anyone from misusing or divulging, it merely says what you might do to them if you catch them at it and sent the creature on his way no doubt to harass others.

 

[Geary]

When questioned, they admitted that they had no licensing to be creating or reselling these graphics. How is this possible?

To amen Bob's response....It's possible because you nor anyone else is turning these ever-so-cleaver wascally wabbits in.


~Gear

 

[Mardi]

To the original post....
(I am offering my opinion only and not a legal advice)

Fabric is not a finished product. Things are made out of it. So if you buy a fabric with copyrighter images on it from a store and without a specific disclamer on limitation of use, you can do whatever you want with it. The store or the manufacturer are responsible for the copyright usage rights.

Simillarly, when you use Feller's "Realtree" pre printed vinyl, you are not breaching any copyrights.

 

[Geary]

Mardi,

The original post's question wasn't about "fabric". It was only used as a possible similar scenario. Which, as it turns out, is not possible. It was about the use of "a clip art package that contains a Chevy, Ford or Dodge logo". And that question has been answered. You simply can't use them without specific permission of the manufacturer or artist who originated the design. Period.

~Geary

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i have a business associate who owns a business that produces, distributes and sells LICENSED collectables, signs, if a college, professional logo is on it he does it...the contracts to be involved to do this type of business are MASSIVE and it is not a small undertaking here is a link to his products and what it looks like when it is done legally. www.memorycompany.com

 

[Mardi]

:Oops: Sorry, i did not take time to read it properly.....