Hawknballs
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djb28":36azpb81 said:I am a screen printer. I have been trying to make a non-corny Wilson/Seahawks shirt that I can sell for the entire season. Without being able to use the logo for profit, stinks.
But for my own personal use.. I can say I have things no one else will ever have!
Then I got to thinking. Why can artists sell things they draw with a team and their logo. Why can a Tattoo artist reproduce and sell NFL logos. ON BODIES. There is a line somewhere. I Will find it.
Maybe If I finish this shirt you can help me out!
Depends on what you mean by artists selling things.
In the case of copyright infringement you have to ask yourself two questions:
1.) is the infringement taking money away from the owner of the IP (intellecutal property) logo, symbol, etc etc. either via direct competition or defamation of the owner/property (damages)
2.) is the infringement making the artist money in such large amounts that the owner should be entitled to benefit from it. (profit)
In most cases if the damages or profit just aren't worth the owner's time they will let it go.
In your example, it's not really worth the NFL's time if they see someone with a seahawks tattoo to send someone to interrogate them, find out where they got it, etc. Also the NFL doesn't provide a tattoo service that I know of so there is no competition; in this case there is really no damage to the reputation or finances of the nfl and frankly it's just not worth thier time to care.
in the case of other artists it's pretty much the same idea, is it worth it to make a case out of it?
IP law is fairly black and white, you either own something or you don't, but the enforcement is really all about how much time/money is worth spending to squelch abusers.