What are the laws concerning font and designs on t-shirts?

Question

I am thinking about designing t-shirts to sell. I have made a lot of pictures that I use as internet "signatures" but they mainly consist of a picture from here and a font from there.

An example is a picture of something I got from someone's personal Mother Theresa page and a font that probably came with Windows.

What are the legalities of using these resources to design something that I would sell? Is it OK to use these fonts and pictures for my own use?

Answer 1

You cannot use someone elses work for your personal gain without permission from them. This would include the photo of Mother Teresa. I don't know about your windows font, but anything that it copywritten would be out of play for you. And remember, many things are automatically copyrighted upon creation - and it does not have to have the (c) or the TM next to it. The second a photographer takes a picture, it's copyrighted to them. The second a novel is put to paper (or computer screen) , it is copyrighted to the author.

You also would not legally be able to use another company's image, logo, or similar on your products. For example - you can't take a coca cola logo from their site (or anywhere) and put it on your shirts. Simply changing the color of it won't cut it. It can't confuse an average person into thinking that Coca Cola licensed their image.

Good luck to you in your business!

Answer 2

Proverbial can of worms. I sell t-shirts, in order to avoid legal issues, I use a designer service which researches the legal stuff for me. It is well worth the cost. I take a basic design which I save onto a disc, (better than trying to email) then let them spiffy it up. The cost is minimal and I have never had a legal problem, sold over 2million shirts.

Answer 3

You're going to want to be careful here. Essentially, you're attempting to use another party's intellectual property. Pictures, photographs, drawings, etc. are protected by copyright -- not the subject (Mother Theresa) but the representation of the subject (the picture).

I'd recommend doing some research about copyrights & trademarks before going any further.

I posted some links that should help you out.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 4

"Freedom isn't free" written at the front and "...some gave all" on the back. with diverse pictures: a million. on the back a bald eagle sitting on a tombstone with a red heart clutched in this is beak. 2. A lacking guy formation with bi-planes at the front and contemporary jets on the back. 3. A burial at sea on the back. 4. A vet in a wheel chair blowing a bugle in a cemetary on the back. 5. A helmet putting on a tombstone with wrestle boots and plant existence infront of the tombstone on the back.