need some help with copyright law

Grabmygoblin · Post by **Grabmygoblin** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:45 am

I just opened a cafepress shop, with the intention of producing shirts with an edited version of my school's copyrighted logo.

...is this legal? would it be legal if I didn't make any money or an insubstantial amount? >_>

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:00 am

IANAL. My first question is "Are you doing this with permission?" If yes you should be fine. If no, my second question is "Are you trying to parody your school or the school logo?" If yes you're probably good again. If neither of those apply you're in dangerous territory.

Okay reading over this it seems like you should be okay under fair use, especially if you don't stand to gain commercially.

Grabmygoblin · Post by **Grabmygoblin** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:37 am

Vorticus wrote:"Are you trying to parody your school or the school logo?"

yup

I'm trying to do this carefully. I want to parody the school's notorious status as a "party school", and I know if they trace it back to me they'll make a big deal since UAlbany is trying to buck it's reputation.

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:45 am

If it's clear parody then you aught to be fine. That may not stop them from sueing you.

Polkadot · Post by **Polkadot** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:46 am

i think parody is covered under copyright law, so yeah as long as its clear parody you should be ok. they can still sue all they want but youd have a pretty good defense hopefully.
at least i think thats how it is, you might want to check with someone more versed in copyrights, i knew more about patents

Jackhass · Post by **Jackhass** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:06 pm

Like people have said, if it's a parody it should be fine...but even if it's not, I doubt anything will come up anyways. I doubt your school is going to waste the time and money trying to sue a minor webcomic artist for parodying their logo.

Toxic · Post by **Toxic** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 3:54 pm

Are you sure the logo is still copyrighted, or even was even eligible for copyright?

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 4:04 pm

rkolter wrote:If it's clear parody then you aught to be fine. That may not stop them from sueing you.

Yes, parody is theoretically fine, but it's a teritorry that can be stretched or narrowed as much as lawyers think nessecary. Are you editing their logo, adding something on it, etc, or are you making a new one resembling theirs? If it's the first place, it would definitely be too close to a line for me.

Steverules · Post by **Steverules** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:20 pm

Jackhass wrote:Like people have said, if it's a parody it should be fine...but even if it's not, I doubt anything will come up anyways. I doubt your school is going to waste the time and money trying to sue a minor webcomic artist for parodying their logo.

I wouldn't count on it. Universities are very protective of their logos and if they feel infringed they will attack. If you only do a few shirts I think you'll be fine but if you get hundreds of students purchasing them you may find yourself in a little hot water. I know with the college football rivalries the T-shirt shops get approval from the Universities they want to parody. This news story comes up every year at OU (since we have so many rivalries). It may be a fight you could (and probably would) win but they will bankrupt you in the process. I would recommend coming up with your own logo and putting it on a shirt.

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:40 pm

Lawyers can prove just about everything isn't a parody.

I've studied law - okay, Australian law - and the bottom line is that yuo can sue just about anyone for anything because humour is in the eye of the beholder, and SOME PEOPLE JUST DONT FIND THAT SHIZNIT FUNNY.

Mistix · Post by **Mistix** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:54 pm

I was allways told as ling as you have permishion to use the copyrited logo its ok, atleast here in Canada its like that.

Kirb · Post by **Kirb** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 1:18 am

blackaby wrote:Lawyers can prove just about everything isn't a parody.

I've studied law - okay, Australian law - and the bottom line is that yuo can sue just about anyone for anything because humour is in the eye of the beholder, and SOME PEOPLE JUST DONT FIND THAT SHIZNIT FUNNY.

Such as that McDonald's parody incident. Corporations don't like the funny.

Grabmygoblin · Post by **Grabmygoblin** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 4:10 am

just to clarify:
I was fooling with photoshop one bored day. here's the result.

I have since been shocked by all the people who loved the pic.
were I to market the shirts, I would clean it up a bit, make it more presentable. but that's the pic basically.