Custom T-shirt legality

[kelmar6821]

http://www.customink.com/designs/proofs/12628470-2673109/front.jpg
http://www.customink.com/designs/proofs/12628470-2673109/back.jpg


now i know that if i bulk ordered them and set up a kiosk at the mall to sell them it is clearly copy wright infringement, but what about for personal use?

not that i'm worried about fbi banging down my door if i order it

 

[Frizzle]

Not sure about legality.. but i think it should be black, with white design. Just saying.

 

[PureChaos]

I WANT ONE!!

(though it's actually 'It could only be more awesome' not 'It could only be better..'

 

[kelmar6821]

well the sites i've used automatically remove white color, and don't detect transparency in the files i upload
so the only way to get it on black is to have the pick be a huge white block with the figures in it

/edit
@purechaos
thx, i'll ammend that

 

[Damien the Pigeon]

I'm not sure about the legality, but if you didn't steal an exact design and are just using it for yourself, it seems like it might be legal. ZP is definitely copyrighted though, so that's definitely a toughie.... Regardless, you should ask a mod to move this to "off-topic" forums for you.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

People make shirts for personal use on custom t-shirt websites with copyrighted images ALL THE TIME! As long as you are not yourself selling the shirt to someone else, you will not be risking any sort of copyright problems. The person who is selling the shirt might be liable, but no one's going to come after you.

 

[fix-the-spade]

If you make one, it's technically still copyright infringement.

BUT

In practice most companies do nothing about it, it would be counter productive to persecute every fan who made something out of their favourite story/comic/movie/show. It's generally seen as being a dedicated fanrather than breach of copyright.

BUT (again)

You're getting this made by a separate company, rather than making it yourself, you're asking a company to make money through breach of copyright. Which is a bit more shaky than just making it yourself.

Your best bet is to just ask the Escapist staff, the worst they can do is say no. As for who specifically to ask, I have no idea.
I'd logically say Spinwhiz as he's listed as the Escapist's Brand Manager, even if it's not his call he'll probably know who's it is.

 

[Ago Iterum]

.

http://www.customink.com/designs/proofs/12622700-2673109/front.jpg
http://www.customink.com/designs/proofs/12622700-2673109/back.jpg


now i know that if i bulk ordered them and set up a kiosk at the mall to sell them it is clearly copy wright infringement, but what about for personal use?

not that i'm worried about fbi banging down my door if i order it

You'll have to have permission from the shopping centre to sell them, you can't just sell things there. You have to have some sort of licence to sell there too

 

[GyroCaptain]

While I'm sure they'd prefer you buy one of the actual ZP shirts, I'm not entirely sure whether this falls under fair-use or not. Probably "not" by a small margin, but unlikely to raise any trouble. Pissing in their pool, so to speak, by making your own Yahtzee t-shirt is one thing, but it's not directly a design they sell, so any non-competitive practices legal bits against the place doing the shirts would be hindered. This is not to mention that you would probably be bound to not infringe copyright by the t-shirt maker and they'd sue you if they saw trouble.

Again, probably off, but water-under-the-bridgey. Surely they can't charge that much less for the custom t-shirts than the official ones, though? I kind of want the "professional troll" one, but I spent my "idiotic t-shirt" money last week on a "Dragons fear me, wenches desire me" t-shirt.

 

[wwjdftw]

it says that everything on ZP is used under the fairuse policy and it should apply to the shirts aswell

DONT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT THOUGH

 

[Sea Age]

If you make one, it's technically still copyright infringement.

BUT

In practice most companies do nothing about it, it would be counter productive to persecute every fan who made something out of their favourite story/comic/movie/show. It's generally seen as being a deicated fanrather than breach of copyright.

BUT (again)

You're getting this made by a separate company, rather than making it yourself, you're asking a company to make money through breach of copyright. Which is a bit more shaky than just making it yourself.

The custom t-shirt sites I've seen have disclaimers that state that you are not allowed to make anything that will violate copyrights, and thereby they claim you are responsible.

 

[Landslide]

If you make one, it's technically still copyright infringement.

BUT

In practice most companies do nothing about it, it would be counter productive to persecute every fan who made something out of their favourite story/comic/movie/show. It's generally seen as being a dedicated fanrather than breach of copyright.

BUT (again)

You're getting this made by a separate company, rather than making it yourself, you're asking a company to make money through breach of copyright. Which is a bit more shaky than just making it yourself.

Your best bet is to just ask the Escapist staff, the worst they can do is say no. As for who specifically to ask, I have no idea.
I'd logically say Spinwhiz as he's listed as the Escapist's Brand Manager, even if it's not his call he'll probably know who's it is.

I'm already asking for you

 

[goatzilla8463]

i wanted to make a custom hoodie with BIG SEXY on the back

 

[cleverlymadeup]

it says that everything on ZP is used under the fairuse policy and it should apply to the shirts aswell

DONT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT THOUGH

ummm i think you're missing the point of fair use, they are referring to the images being used, such as box art, characters and other such things from the games being reviewed. which it is even if they don't state it, they just do so they can cover their butts a bit

using the images for your own personal use, ie only you have it, is questionable but probly fair use as only you have it. however selling it to gain profit is definitely copyright infringement if you don't have permission

 

[sky14kemea]

i want one!

but yeah personal use should be fine, but if you start selling them for profit then you might get hunted down by the nasty men >_<

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I'm sure they'd say it's ok. It's a fan creation and everyone loves that stuff.
Plus Escapist staff are nice guys.

Send me one please

 

[kelmar6821]

okay several things. i discussed it with a friend and looked up fair use stuff (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)
after reading the above link, my use does not fall under fair use.
now the fact that i am using another company to create the shirt i believe, technically, that they are doing it for profit and are in violation of copyright infringement, and because of the companys liability clause, i am therefore in copyright infringement. atleast technically

now reasonably i don't think that theres a problem a one time purchase like this, but when you consider that perhaps a 100,000 ZP fans might make 1 time purchases, that is mass production for profit.

(and for those who seem to have gotten the idea i was going to be producing these, i was being hypothetical in my first post)

 

[fix-the-spade]

I'm already asking for you

Well, what did he say?

I know I didn't ask the original question, but now I'm curious.

 

[Onihoshi]

Love the design and must say you choose a great thing to put on it. First of all you can do that legally in most countries in the world (Europe for sure) the thing is that if you make profit from selling copyright material than you would get in trouble.

As for the people who do that to your t-shirt they cannot be accountable since they do the service of putting the print on the shirt so they don't sell the finished copyright product.

Its like you can make a million copies of a cd you legally own as long as it is for your use but the moment you start selling them your breaking copyright laws.

On the other hand I don't think zero punctuation is a copyright thing thou, as no notice is on the site where you can watch the movies. there fore you can actually do whatever you want with it and i think you could even start selling them but im not sure if zero punctuation is an actual official registered trade mark or just a nice logo to fun clips.

All in all you shouldn't worry and just go with your design and enjoy the t-shirt.

 

[jasoncyrus]

If its for personal use it's fine since its only you using it and most importantly you are NOT making a PENNY from it. Thats the only reason copyright exists. PURELY for financial gains protection. End of story.