Copyright law for t-shirts & designs can be confusing. Let us break it down in a practical way.
We want to tell you it's okay to print whatever you desire. But the reality is that copyright law applies to all intellectual property, even what you want to put on a t-shirt.
Copyright law can be complex, which is why you've landed here. You know you're breaking the law when you're over the speed limit. But often, it's hard to track someone breaking copyright law, and much of the enforcement depends on the copyright owner's desire to pursue a case. This has made the law difficult to enforce, leading to much confusion over what is okay and what is not.
All laws are viewed on a case-by-case basis, and this is especially true for copyrights. Some people will get away with sketchy practices, but we recommend not to risk it, as it could cost you or your company a lot of money to fix something if you cut corners today.
Here are the basics of design copyright law and some pointers for designing the perfect (and legal) t-shirt.
The US enacted its first copyright law in 1790. When we started defending intellectual property rights, the country was just 14 years old. The law was rewritten in 1976 and has been amended as recently as 2022. It's been growing over time into a colossal mass—370 pages.
The law was written to encourage creatives and researchers by defending the monetary value of their work. It doesn't always feel right when you must pay someone to use an image, but we can probably all understand the intent. Artists deserve to make money; they wouldn't make a dime if everything could be copied.
Most of those 370 pages don't discuss the law's primary content but amendments and exceptions (here's the link directly from the US Copyright Office if you want to get into the details). Below are the law's critical components if you're worried about your t-shirt.
In §102, the law is defined in its general form. Copyright protection covers all original works by an author. It even considers technological advances, including works "now known or later developed."
And although the law doesn't explicitly list memes, they are undoubtedly intellectual property. Do your research and determine who owns the meme you want to use or if it's okay. Keep reading for resources that will help you find real gold online.
The law clarifies that the law does not protect an "idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery" involved in creating a work. So, you can follow the same methodology as an artist. You can't steal their finished product.
For example, you can be an impressionist like Van Gogh but can't copy Starry Night. Although, you can copy that one because Starry Night now belongs to the public domain.
In chapter 3 of Title 17 (the name of the copyright law), a copyright is given an apparent lifespan. Any work created on or after January 1, 1978, "endures for a term consisting of the author's life and 70 years after the author's death."
All works that pass that 70-year mark move into the public domain. An artist may also not keep up to date on their copyright, or they may intentionally allow their work to slip into the public domain.
You can do almost anything with it if it's in the public domain. Some things could be improved if you collect and compile a large amount of the artist's work. This has its copyright called a "collective work" copyright. Stanford offers some great insight if this is a question for you.
In §107, exclusive rights are suspended in cases of fair use. In other words, there are some cases where you can use copyrighted work. Appropriate use of a copyrighted work "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."
If you're commenting on or teaching about anything currently copyrighted, you don't need to worry too much about using or reproducing a small amount of the material. But if you need clarification on whether your actions are fair use, you should lean on caution.
The US Copyright Office does offer four questions to help guide you through their definition of fair use:
"The purpose and character of the use." This especially skews towards the benefit of non-profit and educational usage. But don't make the mistake of thinking this is the only factor involved.
"The nature of the copyrighted work." This isn't the most straightforward thing in the world, so the Copyright Office offers help here. This goes back to the original intent of the law. If you're damaging someone else's creativity or ability to profit from that creativity, it won't look good for you.
"The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work." Even a teacher may run into trouble if they're copying entire novels.
"The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." If you're going to eat away profits for the artist, you must be careful. This is especially true because if the owner thinks they'll lose money and have the slightest case, they will take you to court.
If you're using your t-shirts for non-commercial use, you have a much better chance of fitting into the category of fair use. To get ahead of the question, however, company t-shirts are for commercial use. But if you and a couple of friends are big Star Wars fans, you should be okay making a small fan club if nobody's making any money.
Let's talk about a few t-shirts and weigh in on their legality. You've got the law basics down now, but these particular cases might illuminate your question. Say you're a big fan of Stranger Things, and if you haven't seen it, you should check it out on Netflix. We'll explain a couple of t-shirts ranging from overt nods to Stranger Things to ripoffs.
We found one t-shirt that says Stranger Things, except they flipped Things upside down (even this isn't too creative since a critical plot point in the show involves an alternate reality called the Upside Down). They use the show's title as the only content on the shirt, even with the same font. This shirt has little that's new and certainly infringes on Netflix's copyright.
We found another t-shirt that sketched the monster in Stranger Things walking through Joy Division's album artwork for Unknown Pleasures. This one's more challenging to land on. They're using concepts from other artists. But it does seem like a novel idea to blend the two.
Then again, neither graphic work belongs to the artist who drew it. Stanford discusses how transformative ideas will always help someone in court, and this seems like a transformative idea—or new idea. Looks like a toss-up. If you go with an idea like this, a court will make the final call.
The last t-shirt we'll discuss is a shirt for the Hawkins AV Club, a club that the show's main characters are a part of. The designer created a cool graphic for the club that wasn't used in the show. Though this is a clear nod to the show, it's doubtful that Netflix owns a copyright for the fictional town of Hawkins, which makes this one pretty safe.
One problem is that all these shirts are on the same website. So some shirts that might have been okay alone will now be weighed alongside those that are blatant infringements. If Netflix did decide to prosecute, they probably wouldn't be looking at a t-shirt-by-t-shirt basis. They would probably send a more general cease and desist (they've done this before—check out the story here).
All this to say, Netflix won't be prosecuting anytime too soon. Netflix had a market value of $131.22 billion in 2022, and these t-shirts are not disrupting their market. Plus, the optics of a multibillion-dollar cracking down on every tiny case of potential copyright infringement aren't the best look from a PR perspective (ask Disney).
If you need a specific picture or celebrity's face on your t-shirt, you need to find out who has the right to the image and contact them before proceeding. Often, people will be friendlier than you think in these situations, but some people are trying to milk it for all it's worth, so just be ready for anything. And hold onto things loosely until you have the green light.
A growing community on the internet is tired of all the licensing and copyright issues, so they've built sites that help you navigate this area. The leader of this movement is the Creative Commons, who have registered different works to be readily accessible and searchable here.
There have been some new sites since the movement began, and if you want to use stock images without racking up substantial licensing fees, some of the best websites are Unsplash, Pexels, and Pikwizard.
The law seems straightforward when you first read it, but it gets foggy when you look at it on a case-by-case basis.
It's best to stay within bounds when you design a t-shirt. If you follow copyright laws, you must make something entirely new. This will be a win for you and the artist. In a couple of years, you'll be happy nobody else can steal what you came up with!
Happy hunting out there! With some work, I'm sure you'll find the perfect (and legal!) design for your custom tees.
Contact our fabulous printing pros if you're ready to move forward with your shirt or have any questions. They’ll happily walk you through ordering a comfy, stylish, legally designed t-shirt.
Originally Published 01/06/2020 | Updated 05/03/2023
One of the things a t-shirt design business owner and a designer should know beforehand is the copyright laws. You may be involved in some illegal activity by infringing someone’s copyrights unknowingly, and you may be challenged in a court of law. This may create some unpleasant situations for you and your business. Therefore, you must adhere to the copyright rules.
Copyright is all about protecting the owner’s intellectual property rights. In other words, only the owner has the legal right to copy and reproduce their own work. No one can use anyone’s intellectual property without the owner’s permission.
So, the creator of the original material has exclusive rights over the use of the content in any form under the copyright law.
Considering that you’re going to open your own t-shirt design store. I would suggest you ensure that the designs you are selling especially for funny t-shirts should not be copied from elsewhere.
If it’s found, you may face serious legal consequences. Many designers and shop owners are not fully aware of the copyright laws, which proves to be a legal disaster in the end.
Being a t-shirt designer, you must get copyright so that no other person or organization can illegally use your designs for any commercial activity.
It is tempting to use an attractive image, shirt quotes, or graphics as part of your design. But any illegal use can land you in legal trouble later. So, to avoid any such unwanted situation, a better approach is to be original, and stick to the basics.
If you are in the US and aspire to run a T-shirt design business successfully without any legal notices served to you for any potential infringement, then just have a reading of the Copyright Laws of the United States for updated information
So, as a t-shirt design shop owner and a designer, you must have the details of how copyright is useful to protect your intellectual property. Most importantly, this knowledge will help you stay away from any copyright infringements, which is essential to avoid any legal issues.
Avoid using any material from outside. The best approach is to use your creative mind to design an image or figure with the help of a professional designer or a t-shirt maker.
This way, you have a design that is truly your own. This is undoubtedly a creative way to get a design that is away from any legal issues. But get the design copyrighted as well.
Know the difference between copyright and trademark. Many business owners mistakenly consider these two terms the same. A trademark is a symbol, term, and name of a business.
On the other hand, copyright is given for original creative works. These works include paintings, books, movies, songs, choreography, web content, etc.
i. When creating a t-shirt design, you cannot use images, characters, and any figure that resembles anything taken from comic books, cartoon networks, movies, video games, and television shows.
ii. You should not use logos, names, pictures of educational institutions, organizations, clubs, sports teams, musical groups, artists, etc.
iii. Avoid using logos, trademarks, and names of companies.
iv. Do not use any photo, artwork, or caricature of a celebrity. Taking a celebrity’s picture and using that on a t-shirt by drawing it in your own way should be avoided. It involves some complicated copyright issues. So, avoid it as well.
v. If you find an attractive graphic or image that is not listed for commercial use or free use, then do not use it on your t-shirt design. Whenever someone spots it, you will be in legal trouble. Use on those images or graphics that are clearly marked as free for commercial usage.
vi. Keep away also from Internet Memes or viral videos that inspire you to include them on your tshirt design. This is because many of the memes have images of celebrities.
vii. Do not use any image or graphics that you spot on social media and search engines to create your own t-shirt.
viii. When it comes to including some quotes of t-shirt in the design, avoid quoting anything from an author who is alive. In the case of a deceased author who passed away less than 70 years ago, do not quote him/her.
ix. You should also not quote from trademark material, literary works of art, and corporate slogans.
a. You can use royalty-free images for any commercial use, including t-shirt printing.
b. If you find any image or other things on the public domain, most probably its intellectual property rights have expired. So, you can use these images.
c. When it comes to using quotes in your t-shirt designs, you can quote anything from the public domain.
d. You can quote from authors who are dead for more than 70 years. Such t-shirt quotes are safe.
e. You also are legally allowed to quote from common sayings and parodies.
f. You can use national symbols, flags, and the likenesses of political figures as well as coats of arms. These things are not covered under copyright or trademark laws.
g. If you are creating a custom t-shirt, you can generally use famous characters that are commonly recognized by others.
h. Some sites offer free photos for commercial use also. But the user has to give credit to the owner of the photos. So, make sure that you follow this fundamental when using free images. If there is no such legal permission, then track the owner of the photo and get the nod.
All those images, slogans, quotes, graphics that you see on the public domain can be used for your tshirt designs without any worries.
But what exactly is the public domain? Well, the domain has creative material that is no longer protected under any copyright law, and you can use it without taking permission.
Such content on the public domain is usually donated content, or it is forfeited, or its copyright has expired. So anything that you find useful in the domain, feel free to use it.
However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a content on the public domain for free use will not come under copyright laws in the future.
While chances of it coming under copyright are fewer, still you need to check if someone had acquired its copyrights before you borrowed one such design or any other material.
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You should be aware of the ways to check if a material that you want to take has already been secured under copyright laws.
To do that, first, find out if the content you want to use as one of the t-shirt design ideas is using the © symbol. This is the copyright symbol. You will find it in fine letters somewhere at the bottom of a picture or any other material.
If you see a watermark, then it is copyrighted material, and you should avoid using it.
Many owners clearly mention the note of ownership, which you should look around in the content.
If you are not sure about a material’s copyright, the best way to ensure it is to visit the copyright office. You can also browse through copyright files. You can also perform a reverse image search online to find out its source.
In case someone has infringed your copyrights, you can take legal action against the offender. You should take three main steps.
First, make sure that you have registered your original work so that you can file an infringement lawsuit. Once that is in place, and if someone has copied your design, then file an infringement suit against the infringer.
Secondly, get a temporary restraining order. It is a less costly option. You should file a motion to get the order, which is a legal vehicle to halt any production, distribution, and selling of your original design work.
Thirdly, if you are a cash-strapped small business, you should consider approaching a law school faculty that works closely with law students who assist entrepreneurs. Many law schools in the US offer free legal counsel to small businesses.
So, these are the basic rules that you should follow when using an image, content, graphic, and such materials for your t-shirt design and business. Make sure that you have considered all aspects of copyrights regarding your business to avoid any legal issues.
You can safely put your design work at PrintShop with your copyrights. The site is owned by Designhill, which is a leading creative marketplace. But make sure that you adhere to the copyright laws when creating your design works and putting them on this site as part of your profile.
When you create a t-shirt design or run your own design business to sell shirts, check that you do not infringe anyone’s copyrights. It is better to double-check your design works to ensure that they adhere to the copyright laws than to face some unpleasant legal issues. While many images, symbols, and material you can safely incorporate in your design, not all other materials are available to designers without permission.
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