t shirt creators

By admin, February 9, 2009 2:28 am

Copyright information for online images.?

A friend and I have a small little business going printing t-shirts. I often see pictures online that I’d like to put on a t-shirt but never have bothered due to possible copyright violations. Anyone have a link where I can read up on details about things like this? Often the picture is posted on a forum for example and there is no way to tell where it originated from you contact the creator to ask for rights to use it. What if I modify the picture slightly does that get around any possible copyright infringement?

Thanks

The problem is that even if you change the image a bit, the real owner of the image may STILL decide to pursue legal issues regarding copyright infringement. And the more subtle issue is that you never know WHO will see your shirts and decide to sue.

If it is a Disney image, for example, the chances of being caught in legal trouble is pretty high. Disney is just ONE of the corporations that take infrigement issues VERY seriously and hire armies of attornies and investigators to look out for and protect their intellectual property. Suppose, for example, you see an image of Tinkerbell and decide to change her costume to a red one, instead of her green one. That’s a pretty major change, but it is STILL Tinkerbell. It is still her face, her body, and a pose that YOU didn’t create.

This would still be copyright infringement and you wouldn’t stand a chance, defending your actions against Disney’s army of lawyers. And a judge would have no trouble seeing it their way, since, if you did this you would clearly be stealing the image even though you changed the color of the dress. If you stole a green Mustang and painted it red, would it now be YOUR Mustang?

And, just because someone else got away with stealing the image, it wouldn’t excuse you for doing it too. You can’t defend yourself in court by claiming you took the image from someone else using it illegally. It would STILL not be your image to use.

Here is the official US Government Copyright office website:

http://www.copyright.gov

If you intend to continue with your tee shirt business, you should take the time to read and understand copyright law. By knowing the information contained in this site, you can save yourself a LOT of expensive time and trouble. Believe me, the more successful your tee shirt business becomes, the more you will be watched by Disney, Warner Brothers, Viacom, Sony, Hannah Barbera and other studios.

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