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Jul. 30th, 2012 02:46 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
slushienyappy.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
artists_beware
Hello A_B!
I hope I'am submitting this correctly.
I recently started a new business where I can print on shirts,bags, etc. There is a certain anime I have grown very fond of and in this anime there is an emblem that the main character has. I was concerned about printing this emblem on shirts and selling them. Would it be against copyright laws?
I have seen buttons and various other items on Etsy with the same image being sold...So I figured maybe it was okay! But I still want to be on the safe side so I figured I would ask you guys since you seem very wise :).
I dunno if it will matter much but the anime is called "Tiger and bunny" and the emblem is this http://plamoya.com/bmz_cache/d/d984b749dc6799e97f12b7a3fdd9dac6.image.500x500.jpg
Thank you guys so much for your time!
I hope I'am submitting this correctly.
I recently started a new business where I can print on shirts,bags, etc. There is a certain anime I have grown very fond of and in this anime there is an emblem that the main character has. I was concerned about printing this emblem on shirts and selling them. Would it be against copyright laws?
I have seen buttons and various other items on Etsy with the same image being sold...So I figured maybe it was okay! But I still want to be on the safe side so I figured I would ask you guys since you seem very wise :).
I dunno if it will matter much but the anime is called "Tiger and bunny" and the emblem is this http://plamoya.com/bmz_cache/d/d984b749dc6799e97f12b7a3fdd9dac6.image.500x500.jpg
Thank you guys so much for your time!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 11:07 pm (UTC)I really don't want to upset the company that made the anime or anything haha!
Also thank you for your reply n.n
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:12 pm (UTC)Some companies don't mind... but others are jealous of every penny they might have made.
I would caution against it.
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:15 pm (UTC)I will reframe from it then :). I actually did sell 3 stickers but I will just give the rest away. Hopefully they won't be to upset over $6 x.x;...
It would be okay to just give things away right?Or to just make things for myself? I'm sorry for asking so much!
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:16 pm (UTC)Being a big company does not suddenly mean they don't own the rights to their products and property, and doesn't suddenly make them greedy on any level for trying to protect and enforce said rights.
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 11:40 pm (UTC)If you're really looking to make something with the logo on it, I'd recommend finding a way to parody it. As long as it can fall under parody copyright, it should be fine.
And example would be changing the color, and adding bunny ears to the logo, so it's easily relatable to T&B, but not an image officially owned or endorsed by the company. Granted, you'd still want to draw it all yourself.
Also sorry, kinda rambled, LOL.
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:44 pm (UTC)I will draw up my own little T&B things and hopefully it will be safe. I actually do have a sketch I want to finish up and it might be cute for something >w<. It's basically one of the characters in a chibi anthro form...Hopefully that's okay!
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:14 pm (UTC)Whether the company will come after you over it, who knows, it's really on you if you want to sell a product that is not trademarked by yourself, but in the off chance the company steps in, you would be guilty on all parts and essentially at their mercy of what they want to do legally.
Out of curiosity, are you even making the emblem yourself?
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:17 pm (UTC)I really wouldn't want to upset anyone. I'm glad I came here before I took it any further.
Also no I'm not. I was just doing like on Etsy and using the same image. But all because etsy does it doesn't make it right haha! That's another reason I came here.
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:22 pm (UTC)However, another idea that you could maybe do is something like a cute custom design of a tiger and a bunny for instance. Being that they would just be animals, the art would be completely yours to do what you please with, but fans of the series would probably still get the reference. Things like that could be something to think about if you want to still do a sort of fan product, hope this helps!
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 11:34 pm (UTC)Considering at cons, people make 'fanart' stickers and buttons and sell them all the time and never seem to get repercussions.
That's only IF you're remaking the image and not just copy-pasta-printing their version of the image straight from the net.
Doing THAT could get you in major trouble. But the printed stickers/buttons that you've done of fanart yourself rarely ever get you into trouble, unless you're dealing with Hussie and the Homestuck company at large.
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 11:43 pm (UTC)Unfortunately Mspaintadventures and Andrew Hussie is another case of where an Artist dares to actually enact his rights over his property and creations, and kids who want to make money off of his creations throw fits because he won't let them. Legally they have no right to make a penny off of homestuck, but for some reason they feel they are obligated or entitled to sell Art or Products of characters and a creations they do not own.
It should be to note that I speak as a person who has done fan art on commission, and know openly that what I did was not legal, and should the owners of the characters seek me out for it I would be in the wrong with no leg to stand on.
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Date: 2012-07-30 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 11:57 pm (UTC)I know a lot of people actually use Homestuck merch, just as an example since we were talking about them, to TRADE for things or give as free gifts to promote themselves at cons. I know of a few people off the top of my head that trade merch for food from other congoers.
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Date: 2012-07-31 12:00 am (UTC)But for now I'll just plan to pass out the little stickers I made along with some candy.
Again..Thank you so much for your replies!
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Date: 2012-07-31 12:13 am (UTC)I know I myself have ended up just making my own shirts of trademarked things/characters when they either ended up costing too much to buy or just didn't exist how I would like them for sale. This of course doesn't make it legally right, but I just figured I should put it out there if it helps.
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Date: 2012-07-31 12:16 am (UTC)And I feel alittle better hearing(reading?) it from someone on here. it makes me feel alittle better about printing it for myself
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Date: 2013-06-07 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 12:13 am (UTC)The rest of the anime companies are too small and really can't afford to sue anyone. Even if they did, they'd send you a Cease and Desist letter before wasting money to sue you over tiny sticker profits.
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Date: 2012-07-31 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 01:18 am (UTC)I literally have nothing to add except HELL YEA TIGER AND BUNNY. *Brofist*
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Date: 2012-07-31 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 09:10 am (UTC)Wikipedia says it's licensed by VIZ, Kaze and Siren Visual (VIZ being the only one in the US).
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Date: 2012-07-31 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-05 01:06 am (UTC)http://www.viz.com/content/viz-media-announces-product-license-hot-new-anime-action-series-tiger-bunny
THis is not the usual situation so be careful. Avoid using the logos (as others have said, this involves TM not just copyright) and I would really be careful about selling any fanstuff if they're present.
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Date: 2012-07-31 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 02:08 am (UTC)I only sold three stickers a few days ago but I won't be taking it further as of this post :)
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Date: 2012-07-31 03:25 am (UTC)Just best not to do it in general.
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Date: 2012-07-31 03:30 am (UTC)And you are right..I do want to respect the people that made it! I'm sure they put a lot of time In to designing those logos and for someone to snipe it and make easy money is..blah!
I'm glad I posted here. It's made me realize things :D. I was just excited to start a new business and I guess I got carried away.
Trade-marks =/= copyright
Date: 2012-07-31 06:10 am (UTC)I would advise you NOT to sell it. Copyright infringement, fanart, and selling fanart are somewhat grey areas, but trade-marks are pretty seriously regulated(which is why a lot of cons will allow fanart, but do not allow you to sell anything which has the logo of the series in question).
Trade-marks are, as the name suggests, marks in trade. They are meant to distinguish one company or manufacturer's goods/product from another's. They are meant to protect goods and products from being 'passed off' by giving the company's 'stamp of approval' or 'official seal' in the form of an image, logo, mascot, etc.
If you sell a product with another company's trade-mark, you can be charged with passing off and/or counterfeiting. (As a side note, fashion trends do not have copyright attached to them and anyone can make and sell an exact copy of a Louis Vitton handbag, AS LONG AS they do not copy the their trade-mark. A 'knock-off' is one which tries to pretend to be the real thing by replicating the trade-mark).
In your particular case, I do not know if this is a 'fake' logo that they made up for a group or company within the anime. If so, then it's not really a trade-mark and falls under copyright. If the company has ever used that mark to promote a product or a line of products, then it will be trade-marked most likely (like the tri-force symbol in Zelda).
I would infringe copyright a heck of a lot soon than I would infringe trade-marks, so be warned.
Re: Trade-marks =/= copyright
Date: 2012-07-31 06:45 am (UTC)It's kind of trippy in that the series has a lot of real logos/trademarks that exist for companies in the real world, and then they have their made up ones....
Sorry if I am rambling and don't make much sense, it's just that it's almost 3 AM x.x; Curious about how some of this would work though, like I think if they just wanted to sell the symbol and nothing with it yea that's not a good way to go.
Re: Trade-marks =/= copyright
Date: 2012-07-31 01:12 pm (UTC)Re: Trade-marks =/= copyright
Date: 2012-07-31 07:01 am (UTC)I won't be selling them from here on out. I only sold three to a friend for $6 and I'm about to contact her to see if she wants a refund.
Other than that I plan to take the current stickers I have and just give them away for free at an upcoming con in September.
I also wanted to make myself a t-shirt and a bag for college with the logo and the characters nickname on it. But I plan for that to be just for me and I won't be selling those items or making them for other folks. I hope that's still okay!
Sorry if I didn't read anything you typed correctly x.x..I'm replying from my iPod haha!
Re: Trade-marks =/= copyright
Date: 2012-07-31 01:20 pm (UTC)Companies also heavily police their trade-marks because it is necessary to avoid what is called 'dilution'. It's happened to products like Q-tip and Band-aid, where they didn't keep their trade-name (closely related to trade-mark, same area) separate from other competing products and people eventually called every cotton swab Q-tip and every adhesive bandage a band-aid, so they actually lost their rights to the names (which is why Band-aid promotes themselves as 'Band-aid BRAND' lol).
A LOT of people on the internet confuse trade-marks and copyright or use the terms interchangeably, but they're very different, just overlap sometimes :)
Re: Trade-marks =/= copyright
Date: 2012-07-31 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 01:15 pm (UTC)I'll just be giving the little stickers I made out for free at the con >v<. Thank you for your comment! To everyone thank you!
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Date: 2012-07-31 10:40 pm (UTC)There are many legitimate sellers and artists there, so this isn't a knock against them, but there are also many shops selling things that technically they shouldn't (using the site to resell mass-manufactured items when that's against the rules, selling items that contain copyrighted images, claiming to sell handmade items when they're really not, etc.).
For examples, see this:
http://www.regretsy.com/category/not-remotely-handmade/page/2/
And this:
http://www.regretsy.com/category/copyright-infringements/page/4/
(Warning: there are some Not Safe For Work images (nudity and the like) in the site, if you want to see other sections of it.)
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Date: 2012-07-31 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 10:49 pm (UTC)I forgot to warn you, some entries have swearing too. I forgot to mention that, sorry.
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Date: 2012-08-01 12:21 am (UTC)