Sports Art Copyrights

[Bigfoot]

What am I allowed to do and what am I not allowed to do as a painter of professional sports scenes? How much resemblence can i paint when it comes to team colors and pro players, ie. their likenesses and numbers? Can I legally offer a particular athlete an already finished painting of him? What about reproductions. Do I need the athletes permission, teams permission, liscences from the leagues? Any loopholes?
Thanks.

[Conrad Hunter]

I don't remember the details but I just read a US Appeals Court decision of a team suing an artist who painted what you want to do, (players, sports scenes, uniforms, etc.) and the court ruled that it was not a trademark infringement because it was original works of art which could not infringe a trademark and which had their own rights as artistic expression under the First Amendment, in a nutshell. The court said there was no chance of confusion, etc. Just don't print t-shirts and you should be okay. Do a websearch on Google legal and you should come up with the decision and other case law on the subject. Unless it is conflicted by another appeals court (and which would have to go to the Supreme Court ultimately) the decision of any US Court of Appeals is the law of the land just as the decision of any state appeals court is the law of the state until it is overturned or modified.

[aaron]

Are you thinking of this / this?