Can the skull and crossbones icon be copyrighted?

Question

Hello. I designed a skull and crossbones patch and an artist emailed me claiming that he designed the crossbones...

So I took a look at his version of the crossbones and they look similar but they are not the same. His looks like a sketchy doodle type drawing....I guess it's the disconnected jaw bone or something....

He is asking me to take in down....and to stop selling it....

Does he have the right to tell me to do so?

Answer 1

is your name black beard probably not when did you hijack a merchantship take its cargo, kill the passengers and raise the bones. how can anyone copy write something that has been around for a thousand or so years maybe i should copywrite the star of david or the cross if you have enough money you can do anything and no one cares in a place where freedom has a price where justice can be bought who gives a diddley hoot

Answer 2

Easy answer: you didn't copy his work because you'd never seen it before he sent it to you, therefore it is not an infringement and he would lose that case in the "laugh test" phase. However, a TRADEMARK can be infringed by innocently selling something with a brand (logo, name, etc) "likely to cause confusion" of customers, who may believe you are somehow related to the person already using the similar brand.

In the US Patent and Trademark Office, you can search the national database for "skull and bones" and dozens of registered designs come up.

Ask for the guy's registration number and look it up, or ask when he first started using it on products similar to yours.

Answer 3

Did he send you anything that would lead you to believe he had anything copyrighted? If not, he can pound sand. Fact is that there were so many versions of skull and crossbones on pirate ships two centuries ago that there's not much likelihood of original work involving skulls and crossed bones.

Answer 4

I dont know it has been around since the days of Pirates its was used on poison containers for a long time may be still is.
it would definately have to be a unique interpretaton and yours would have to near identical. I'm as curious as you now, if anybody actual does hold a patent on an all but "household" symbol.

I wouldnt really think he had anything that would stand up five minutes in court