thread's not dead - doITlab

perience. Any action you take as a result
of my advice is at your own risk.
Also, as my partner Bill Beachy says,
“Before I get started I want to stress a
few things. First and foremost, it should
ALWAYS be your goal to run your business
100% legally. This means paying
ALL your taxes and following ALL laws.
If you truly want to achieve great success
with your company, it’s best to do it
right (as right as possible) from the very
beginning. You do NOT want to end up
like Enron or Martha Stewart; cheating
on your finances, getting caught and going
to jail. If you start your business by
cheating it will be a very hard habit to
get out of.”
It can be daunting thinking about lawyers,
accountants, s-corps, partnerships,
taxes, licenses, payroll, health
insurance, etc. That stuff is important
for ALL businesses, not just the apparel
industry. A book could be written alone
on that stuff. But fortunately, Bill broke
it all down on our blog. But let’s touch
on a few of the most misunderstood legal
issues in the apparel industry.
Parodies and Spoofs
Parody is the one of the most misunderstood
laws out there involving art.
Do you want to make fun of something
famous and sell it on a t-shirt? Do you
want to do a zombified illustration of
Harry Potter, cool! But be careful, you
could get trapped in a legal battle and
that’s never a good place to be.
THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley
Examples of parody tees by Glennz - http://store.glennz.com
I’ve done research on this topic and everything
I read says “consult your attorney”
for specific answers. Not everyone
is in a position to give you legal advice
and that’s why it’s such a foggy issue.
Even if your design is an original spoof
or criticism of another’s copyrighted
work, you could still get taken to court
and be forced to let a judge decide. The
brand you spoofed could get offended
and have a reason to take you to court.
Someone once said “if the judge laughs,
its ok. If not, you’re screwed.”
If you could get permission from the
source you are parodying, then that’s
great. But as you might expect, not
everyone would approve of you making
money at their expense. It’s such a
touchy subject, so I’m going to have to
tell you to get official legal advice if you
plan on using parody to sell tees.
Here’s a quick link for reference.
Fair Use
Similar to parody, there is also the concept
of “fair use.” Essentially this is an
effort to allow limited use of copyrighted
material without requiring permission
from the rights holders, such as
commentary, criticism, news reporting,
research, teaching, scholarship, or research.
Section 107 of the United States
Copyright Law sets out four factors to be
considered when determining whether
or not a particular use is fair:
• The purpose and character of the
use, including whether such use is of
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