Re: T-shirt resale

On Thu, Feb 11, 1999, Angela Putney <aputney[_at_]aip.org> wrote:
>
> On 02/10/99, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I agree there is a potential distinction to be drawn between the sale
> > of a new product and the resale of an existing product. But I am
> > afraid that the discussion is NOT merely academic, and that you may,
> > in fact, need permission to write on your own clothes [at least if
> > you then try to re-sell them.]
>
> I lived in the LA area for several years and noticed (I have not
> noticed this elsewhere to the same degree) that many of the Toyota
> pick-up trucks there have one or many of the letters removed from
> the back of the truck so that while driving behind one you read,
> "TOYOT," "TOY," "YO," etc. (Some have new letters added too, I've
> seen "YOYO".) Is this a derivative work? Presumably a substantial
> fraction of these trucks get resold and such a change in the vehicle
> is not "normal wear and tear." By all the discussion that has
> happened on this T-shirt reslae question, clearly this is illegal.
> Should the cops be pulling these people over for copyright violation?
> ("Copyright police" Hmm, I think certain large corporations would
> love to have such a force out there). Is it okay since the vehicle
> is still identifiable as a Toyota by many other marks or perhaps
> Toyota doesn't feel it is worth the effort?

Changing TOYOTA on the back of a truck to read, for example, YOYO, would not create a derivative work, because neither the original nor the copy is copyrightable subject matter. A truck itself is hardly an original work of authorship; and the individual word TOYOTA is too short to be a copyrightable expression.

Of course the practice might invoke trademark law. But there would be no infringement or unfair competition action unless the revised mark were used in such a way as to confuse or deceive consumers as to the actual source of the truck. Not likely.

Bob Cumbow
cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com
206-583-8566 Received on Fri Feb 12 1999 - 21:44:00 GMT