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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
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    2

    Default Using Pictures from Movies and Popular Culture on Clothing

    I have recently set up a website selling clothes, but I have a few legal issues that I am unsure of:

    1. Can I use stills from movies and characters from popular culture etc on my shirts?

    2. If I see another company selling shirts with a picture on it I like can I copy these pictures onto my shirts?

    Thanks in advance for any help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    9,096

    Default Re: Using Pictures from Movies and Popular Culture on Clothing

    Not without paying the legal owners of those images you can't.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2010
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    2

    Default Re: Using Pictures from Movies and Popular Culture on Clothing

    Quote Quoting cyjeff
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    Not without paying the legal owners of those images you can't.
    Well for a start how can I tell if they are trademarked? Also if I use them without permision can I get in srious trouble?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Key West, FL
    Posts
    2,350

    Default Re: Using Pictures from Movies and Popular Culture on Clothing

    No and No.

    They might well be trademarked, but regardless, they are all protected by copyright. Without written permission you would be engaging in copyright infringement at minimum and perhaps trademark infringement as well.

    You will be sued, sooner or later. You could even be arrested.

    Not a good business plan.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    9,096

    Default Re: Using Pictures from Movies and Popular Culture on Clothing

    Quote Quoting Jumbo
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    Well for a start how can I tell if they are trademarked? Also if I use them without permision can I get in srious trouble?
    Because they are in someone else's movie and/or someone else's creation as part of a movie/tv show.

    The trouble you will get into is being sued into bankruptcy.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
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    16,307

    Default Re: Using Pictures from Movies and Popular Culture on Clothing

    Quote Quoting Jumbo
    View Post
    Well for a start how can I tell if they are trademarked? Also if I use them without permision can I get in srious trouble?
    Trademark and copyright are entirely different creatures. That said, infringing on either can get you sued into threadbare poverty faster than you can sneeze.

    Copyright attaches at the moment of creation of a work. If you didn't create it, you have no right to use it. It's not a matter of "But I can't tell!". If you want to use an image you did not create, you must ask for and be granted permission in writing.

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