Copy Rights?

[shhhli]

Hey guys- i know there's the saying "if you have to ask then don't" kinda thing, but would basing a t-shirt design off of a video game or such be a form of infringment? It would obviously refrence the game, but wouldn't actually be the 'characters'. I see it on threadless.com (AWESOME shirts) sometimes, but its never really the exactness of a character or its making refrence to? Would that be against some patents?
I work at Russell Corp and can get shirts at a great discount- that and i have versions of photoshop and illustrator cs2 and am good friends with a co-worker who's husband owns a screen print shop and have always wanted to try a hand at making some shirts. I figured a few snake designs would be fun- and like the idea of infusing a few video game themes into it.
anyone have any knowledge on it? patents, copy rights, and if refrencing is illegal in some ways? It would be obvious as to what games some of the time, but wouldn't use things to the T.
I would put up examples; but you never know who's lurking. ^.^

[Adam_Wysocki]

Generally ... yes.

If you do not own the rigths to the intellectual property (video game characters, titles, slogans, images, snake images, etc) US copyright law (and international equivs) make it illegal for someone that does not own that intellectual property to reproduce/distribute/market/etc (even post on message boards) that property.

Using a stranger from down the streets lawn mower to cut your grass without asking permission first is illegal ... and so is using the image/title/brand/slogan of a video game owned by someone else on a t-shirt without permission.

-adam

[Nate]

i believe if you make something for yourself, no biggy...do it....but if you're profiting (making money) then it is illegal.

If I made myself a shirt that said "ball-pythons.net rawks!" and use their logo and it was mine...no biggy...but if I open up my own store and start selling those shirts...we have problems. make sence?

[Adam_Wysocki]

If I made myself a shirt that said "ball-pythons.net rawks!" and it was mine...no biggy.

Actually, a case can be made in a court of law to make you stop producing and wearing something like that AND possibly damages can be awarded to ball-pythons.net .... US courts are extremely protective of US businesses and their right to make money ... you'd be surprised.

-adam

[Nate]

haha yeh re-reading my post i realized that....but it's weird, and maybe without hijacking your thread, this question can be answered....why is it that if someone is willing to promote your product/business/etc....it's a bad thing? If i wanted to print "ball-pythons.net" on a t-shirt..why would the admins be upset with promoting them?

or...why is it when you see a video on TV, "coke" is blurred out? It's promotion....perhaps i'm missing something there...educate me

[shhhli]

Yes, I see that- but if its not the actual .. thing?
Like if i made a drawing that refrenced pac man- something eating other little things in a maze. It wasn't pac man, prehaps not even a circular object or little circles- but you could look at it, get the joke and think "oh, pacman, lol".
That's the best example i can come up with. There's a shirt on threadless that features Darth Vader- BUT its not him to the T, there are little changes to make it 'original'. We have to do this at work, change a horse head so its not stealing the colts logo, or tweaking the G on Georgia Tech.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Yes, I see that- but if its not the actual .. thing?
Like if i made a drawing that refrenced pac man- something eating other little things in a maze. It wasn't pac man, prehaps not even a circular object or little circles- but you could look at it, get the joke and think "oh, pacman, lol".
That's the best example i can come up with. There's a shirt on threadless that features Darth Vader- BUT its not him to the T, there are little changes to make it 'original'. We have to do this at work, change a horse head so its not stealing the colts logo, or tweaking the G on Georgia Tech.

It really all depends on how far the owner is willing to "push" and then on the courts decision ... sometimes there is a fine line between mocking an icon (darth vader case) and copyright violation. If the owners lawyers can make a good case that your intent was to do damage to the brand, you're cooked.

Most likely, if you did do something like that, it would never make it to a court room ... but "technically" it very well could.

-adam

[Adam_Wysocki]

haha yeh re-reading my post i realized that....but it's weird, and maybe without hijacking your thread, this question can be answered....why is it that if someone is willing to promote your product/business/etc....it's a bad thing? If i wanted to print "ball-pythons.net" on a t-shirt..why would the admins be upset with promoting them?

or...why is it when you see a video on TV, "coke" is blurred out? It's promotion....perhaps i'm missing something there...educate me

Here's why ... (I'll use my business and opinions as an example) ... You're a good guy Nate, if you wanted to put "8 Ball Pythons" on a shirt and walk around Daytona, that's fine with me (or I could just bring you a shirt and save you the trouble ) ... but suppose a serial killer is out there and he loves the saying "Isn't it about time you got some balls?" ... so he makes up 8 Ball shirts and goes on doing his do .... then he gets caught and on the national news he's walking into a jail house yelling racial and religious slurs wearing a shirt with my company name and web address all over him ... NO THANK YOU! ... I don't need that kind of grief in my life ... and I'm just small potatoes ... do you know what that could do to a business like Disney? Hasbro? etc .... Every business has an image, without copyright law, ANYONE could represent any business with an image that isn't in the businesses best interest.

-adam

[cassandra]

(or I could just bring you a shirt and save you the trouble )

hijack: you need to make chick shirts /nod

As my grampa would say "There's a nice blouse full of goodies..."

[Adam_Wysocki]

hijack: you need to make chick shirts /nod

Where ya been? White, black, pink, and baby blue (the blue is new this year) ... not much fabric to them, but they look good.

-adam