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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > How do sports tshirt sites avoid copyright issues?
 
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RonMexicosPitbull
Feb 28, 2012

by Ralp

Bum the Sad posted:

So it'd be like if I drew a super cool Batman and they had the right to Batman t-shirts they could just use my drawing? That doesn't seem right/legal. Just because I can't make money off it doesn't mean they could take my work and make money off it.

They own the rights to batman and you drew batman and released it free to the public. Its theirs to use if they want, most times companies dont because the work usually sucks and they got their own artists. Thats why it only happens with dumb things like T shirts.

* # ¿ Mar 31, 2015 09:51
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RonMexicosPitbull
Feb 28, 2012

by Ralp

Space Gopher posted:

people who violate the trademark to stop and hand over the money they made.

If Hot Topic is just pulling drawings off DeviantArt and putting them on shirts, without permission or licensing, that's unquestionably illegal. But, the remedy is to sue for damages. 15 year old kids on DeviantArt generally don't have the resources to pursue a lawsuit, and if they did, the damages for one T-shirt design probably wouldn't cover the costs of the protracted legal battle that Hot Topic can afford.
And any damages won would be sent straight back to DC or Hottopic because the deviantart guy profited off making Batman pictures. Its not litigated because theres no point. If there was money in it, lawyers would be crawling out the air vents to sue for a percentage of the damages and work for free. It happens all the time. You attribute a conspiracy in the legal system to explain a very simple concept about why something works the way it does. Why? To make snide remarks about the legal system? Does it make you feel smart?

RonMexicosPitbull fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Mar 31, 2015

* # ¿ Mar 31, 2015 16:12
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > How do sports tshirt sites avoid copyright issues?