TRADEMARK (TM)advice for my artwork(SM)(R)
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:18 pm
Hi everyone. I've briefly spoken to a lawyer about this, but he left me a little more confused than before. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with the subject of (TM)'ing their own artwork or logos.
I plan on selling my personal t-shirt designs on my website and I want to protect myself from someone else seeing and stealing my designs.
My problem is that the 1st part of the design is a symbol that can be drawn in a few different ways, depending on where you are from. I'll use a cross to illustrate:
Say I drew a really cool cross, and the design was 'T'ony the 'T'reehugger (the 'T's are the crosses i drew).
Can't someone just use a different cross, then change the font of ' ony the reehugger ' and claim it as their own? So it would still say 'Tony the Treehugger', but it would look diff than mine.
If I trademarked the design, would I be protected? Also, would it even be worth trying to fight this in court? But if I don't protect myself somehow and I happen to have something that really catches on, I run the risk of letting someone take my design and claim it as their own.
I figure designers and screenprinters must run into this sort of thing quite often, especially those that sell their ideas online.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
furry chinch
I plan on selling my personal t-shirt designs on my website and I want to protect myself from someone else seeing and stealing my designs.
My problem is that the 1st part of the design is a symbol that can be drawn in a few different ways, depending on where you are from. I'll use a cross to illustrate:
Say I drew a really cool cross, and the design was 'T'ony the 'T'reehugger (the 'T's are the crosses i drew).
Can't someone just use a different cross, then change the font of ' ony the reehugger ' and claim it as their own? So it would still say 'Tony the Treehugger', but it would look diff than mine.
If I trademarked the design, would I be protected? Also, would it even be worth trying to fight this in court? But if I don't protect myself somehow and I happen to have something that really catches on, I run the risk of letting someone take my design and claim it as their own.
I figure designers and screenprinters must run into this sort of thing quite often, especially those that sell their ideas online.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
furry chinch