Re: T-shirt resale

On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Michael Juhre <michael.juhre[_at_]aig.com> wrote:
>
> I've had trouble figuring out. My friends are screen printing
> politically oriented messages on T-shirts, and sell them at various
> rallies and open air markets. The catch is, all the shirts they print
> on are used, and therefore contain a message from the original marketer.
> Clearly it is legal to sell used t-shirts, and clearly it would be
> illegal to PRINT SOMEONE ELSE'S art or message on your own poltically
> oriented shirt. But how might this situation fit in?
>
> Example: Could Disney bring any action against a person or organizatoin
> that sold a used Mickey Mouse T-shirt with the words "FREE TIBET"
> printed next to his head?

I would certainly hope so. Several possibilities under the common law of trademarks and under the Lanham Act come to mind, section 43(a) reverse passing off, fraud and misrepresentation, tarnishment of famous marks... I don't think that parody protects them either.

Obviously the artwork itself is not being reproduced, so there isn't a copyright infringement in that sense, although there is probably the unauthorized making of a derivative work by altering the original t-shirt, under the Mirage case rationale, if your friends are within the purview of the 9th circuit.

-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
Arborlaw Associates PLLC
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
+1 734 668 4646 tel   +1 734 663 9361 fax
business, technology, entertainment and new media law
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