Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I haven`t posted in a while, working hard on getting my business started. I am creating a new product that is sewn. Of course, I am buying the material at my local fabric store and sewing it in my dining room. My question is- if I create my product with licensed fabric that I have purchased, can I sell it to the public? This question also pertains to my custom motorcycle helmets, if I create a design that is say a NFL team or cartoon what kind of legal problems could I  incur? I have asked this question to other crafters who I know and their responses were either, they will quit producing it when notified or they feel since the purchased the licensed fabric they can do anything they want with it. Please any input would be great. I have some great fabric and ideas and would love to put them on my up and coming web site.

I`m not an expert but I do know that professional sports associations, NFL, NBA, etc, and the NCAA are very protective of their marks. 

You may want to ask your question here, http://www.intelproplaw.com/Forum/Forum.cgi?board=licensing

 

Thanks for the link- it directed me to a post about NFL stickers and fleece being used for resell products. What I gathered from the post on the site is that as long as I am using it for the intened manner which it is being sold, i.e. fabric to create clothing I think I will be safe. I am still wondering about recreating licensed logo`s on my helmet. Thanks again for the info.

 

Disney will send you a cease and desist letter if you do it with their licensed products.  This happens in the scrapbook industry all the time - women make cards or albums using licensed products (Nascar, NFL, Disney, etc) for eBay and either eBay shuts them down or the company does.  I always tell people to stay away from licensed products.

I don`t know if the First Sale Doctrine applies here or not because my understanding is that licensing is different. 

Sports licensing is BIG BUSINESS in this country.  I would stay away from any legal issues surrounding it.  Even colleges will fiercely protect their logos/images.

~Kim

I did read on the other site that an NFL license is about 100k and they are not issuing any at this time.  Also on the site someone had a contact with a lawyer who had worked for Disney and Barbie. Disney has a 0% tolerance and Barbie will only go after company`s that have a higher sales volume than a small crafter. As a small business owner, how does one provide something that a customer may want? Since my helmets are custom and should a customer request such a logo, will I have to turn them down? Do I create them until I get a cease and desist letter?

I`m not a lawyer, but I`m thinking PatentAndTrademark might have a thought here:

I`m wondering if the problem rests on whether or not the mark itself is licensed, not the fabric? For instance, the Disney and NFL stuff is using a trademarked symbol. But an artist-designed screen print of say, a forest scene on fabric I don`t think has a trademark.

There`s often a copyright notice along the outer edge of printed fabric, which I think means nobody can copy the artistic design on that fabric. But they can use the fabric, create a tote-bag, and sell it. The royalty fee was paid by the fabric store when they bought the bolt.

So it`d come down to whether the *design* and artwork are copyrighted, or whether the *mark* being used in the fabric is trademarked. Right?

So if say my husband wants me to put a logo on his helmet, can I? Can I create it as long as I`m not selling it? I think of all the craft show I have gone to and see NFL and college stuff being sold. Are those vendors just waiting for their cease and desist letters to arrive in the mail? I`m not trying to create an arguement for what I would like to do, my site is dedicated to women motorcyclist and I was just trying to create something I could market to the men.

Can I create part of a logo and long as it is not the whole logo body, say the head of the mascot and not the whole thing? Could I create the outline of the Harley logo and not insert the name?

 

If you`re talking about Harley - they will go after you.  When Harley licensed a line of scrapbook products, we, as home-based retailers, were cut out of the supply chain.  Our distributors couldn`t sell the product to us per their agreement with Harley.  It could only be sold at Bricks and mortar stores.  They felt their brand would be "de-valued" if it was sold elsewhere.  However, it didn`t stop most people from getting their hands on it and selling it. 

MOST copyright holders will turn their heads if you sell something at, say, a local craft show, but when it hits the internet and they discover it, you`ll probably get a letter.

Barbara Brabec has information in some of her books about copyrights and small crafters. 

BTW - even the local high school will protect their logo.  When you make products, you can use the school name and a fake logo (say they are the MUSTANGS - you can use another horse), but their actual school mascot logos are copyrighted and you can`t use them without permission (and often paying the school a percentage). 

~Kim

Thanks Kim for another great site! All the info is greatly appreciated!