We are about to print some T Shirts and before we do so I want to copy right them, so no one can use the text. how do I do that???


http://www.lapdboosters.com

BARCELONA http://www.Barcelona.la

I have a ton of practical experience as it regards copyright and trademarks having just spent the last four years and $30,000 fighting to protect ownership of my trademark... And guess what, I won the lawsuit, won the appeal and as yet, still do not "own" my trademark, and may even have to take the usurper back to court in order to get it (sigh).

Before really saying anything about copyright (or trademarks, or patents, etc)... I have one bit of warning, caveat, whatever you want to call it for anyone thinking of spending the money on it.

Do not bother unless you are willing to fight to the death to protect and defend it. And, I do mean willing to sue absolutely everyone who ever even remotely uses your copyright.

Ok, if you're ready... here's what you need to know.

Firstly... A copyright applies to written text. A body of literary work, exerpts from it, etc. So for example, a play could be copyrighted -- Shakespeare's Hamlet, a solliloquoy from that play could be copyrighted -- one of Hamlet's speeches, a statement -- A comment attributable to one of the characters in the play -- "Out damn spot!", etc. .

The good news is that you don't really need to do anything in order to get copyright for such a work (or its derivatives). The copyright act of 1976 ensures the writer's ownership and the rights and protections that go with that. You are automatically legally protected. You do not need to spend further money on a copyright. Of course, a slogan on a t-shirt is not considered "copyright" unless it is as described, taken from a larger written body of work and even then, there is no guarantee of protection.

Depending on what the "slogan" is, though, may make it eligible for trademark protections.

And I warn you ahead of time... If you want to own the trademark, you will have to fight for it, forever and ever until the end of time or it can be taken from you. And that, in and of itself can be an expensive process. Anyone, even someone with no legitimate claim to your trademark can claim it is theirs and it is more expensive to defend your ownership of the mark than it is to pretend it is yours. It's a very adversarial process and truly (in a lot of cases) more hassle than it is worth.

There are two ways to protect your "t-shirt slogan"... by virtue of the words or by virtue of the design of the words. You'll have a better chance of defending the design virtue than the word virtue, I might add. The design virtue includes the font, the shape of the way the words go together and the colour of the text. The words themselves will only be trademarkable based on your intended purpose, in other words, as a t-shirt slogan... So, for example, if you owned a hot sauce company named Tabasco and someone wanted to open a Restaurant using your name, they would be allowed, because you own the trademark for hot sauce, not restaurants. Whereas, the way you write Tabasco is protected, if it's your colour and your specific font, so, as big companies do, create your own font, and then write out your words, then, your t-shirt slogan is trademarkable.

Here comes the best part... You will spend a lot of time and money (about two years and a few hundred dollars to a few thousand) to ensure first of all that your slogan is trademarkable and to apply for the trademark, and assuming the trademark is granted, you will have to spend the rest of your life making sure that nobody, anywhere usurps your trademark. And, horror of horrors, if it can be shown that you didn't fight hard enough to defend your trademark, it can be granted to the other person who is using it... sort of like squatter's rights. (Note, I said can be).

The whole process is annoying and expensive and as I said before, a complete and total waste of time and energy and money UNLESS you are willing to fight to the death to protect and keep the trademark.

Hope that helps.

T

>We are about to print some T Shirts and before we do so I
>want to copy right them, so no one can use the text. how do I
>do that???
>
>
>http://www.lapdboosters.com
>


Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!