So, you want to start a T-shirt business? That’s awesome, but I’d be lying if I said it would be easy. It won’t – that’s exactly what’ll make it so worthwhile.
Aside from the usual stuff you’ll need to understand in terms of creating a business, there’s the rather sticky issue of copyright. How do you ensure your designs are protected, and that Twitter bots won’t steal your artwork or that a big business like Hot Topic won’t either? More importantly, how can you ensure you aren’t going to run afoul of someone else and inadvertently violate their T-shirt design copyrights?
Let’s talk about that.
How Does Copyright Work With T-shirt Designs?
Can you copyright a design? You’re not the first to wonder about it. But custom T-shirt copyright law is actually a lot less complicated than it seems.
When you create an original work of art, such as a graphic design on a shirt, you own the rights to that design. The program or app you use to create a design might have rules in the terms and conditions about creating commercial content if you’re using an unpaid option (like student versions). Ask an online community about it or make sure you avoid the issue with a free shirt creator like our Design Studio. Regardless, should anyone else decide to use your design for their own purposes, they need to credit you in some way.
Now, there’s an important caveat regarding how to copyright a T-shirt design. While a design is automatically protected at the time of creation, if you want to take legal action against someone who’s violated the copyright on one of your designs, you need to register it with the U.S. Copyright Office. This requires you to fill out a form, pay a nominal fee and send a copy of the copyrighted work to the office.
Information on fee structure can also be found in government resources. Note that from the time of filing, it may take up to 10 months for your application to be approved if you submit it online. During that period, your work is still copyrighted but unregistered – meaning legally defending it is much more difficult.
But can you copyright clothing designs? It’s worth noting that in the U.S. fashion industry, this is still something of a hot-button issue. As evidenced in a 2017 court case between Star Athletica and Varsity Brands, two separate judges concluded that elements of clothing design such as cut, shape and physical dimensions are not eligible for copyright protection. Font types and distinctive phrases can fall into a similar category, as seen with other copycat T-shirts and designer duplicates.
If you’re exclusively planning to create graphics, slogans and logos for your shirts, you’re probably in the clear for how to copyright a design for T-shirts – but if you want to do some unique stuff with their cut and shape, just be aware that it may be difficult to protect those designs in court.
What’s the Difference Between Copyrights and Trademarks?
When you’re researching how to copyright T-shirt design concepts, other legal measures might come up in your investigation. Trademarking is another way to protect your intellectual property – but it applies exclusively to items directly related to your business, such as your name, logo, slogan or marketing materials. Basically, anything that is central to how people associate with your company can be trademarked.
If you’re founding a T-shirt design business, you’d trademark the name, logo and slogan, then copyright the designs you produce.
How Can You Ensure Your T-Shirt Designs Are Original?
The truth is, if you look closely enough, nothing is fully original. Every work of art in history is derived from something else, being influenced by a wide range of factors and elements. With that in mind, knowing how to avoid copyright infringement with T-shirts can seem daunting. Especially now, in the era of the Internet, it might seem near impossible to put together shirt designs that are distinctive enough.
It isn’t impossible, though. First, I’d advise you to look for inspiration from works that are in the public domain. These are symbols, graphic images and other artwork that may have been copyright-protected at one point in their history but have since lost that protection. Typically, these safeguards last 95 years after publication or 120 years from creation for anonymous works, content made under a pseudonym or creations made for payment (whichever comes first). With most content made after 1978, protection continues 70 years after the creator’s passing.
Stuff that’s fallen into the public domain is free for anyone to use, copy and market in any way – so if you adapt your own original artwork from that content, you should be on the right side of T-shirt design copyright law.
Second, if you plan to create a T-shirt related to a movie or series, contact the copyright holder for that series. “Fair use” doesn’t necessarily cover you here – it’s primarily related to famous figures, icons and logos. As such, if you attempt to market and sell a shirt based on a popular show without legal protections, don’t be surprised when the showrunner’s lawyers send you a (not so) friendly letter. Some brands will accept officially licensed lines based on their own policies. How to get licensing rights for T-shirts will vary from company to company, including the cost and the ways you can use their intellectual property (IP). Be prepared to spend time negotiating before you get the go-ahead.
Last but not least, do your homework. If you see an image or design you want to use on your shirt, search around to ensure the design doesn’t legally belong to someone else. This handbook provides a great primer to help you understand a bit more about how it all works.
How Can You Protect Yourself From Copyright Theft?
Now that we’ve gone over the ins and outs of copyright law as it pertains to T-shirt design, let’s talk about what you can do to protect yourself from plagiarists. As I’ve already said, there are a ton of people out there who will try to poach your designs. It’s almost upsettingly common, especially in the clothing industry.
Here’s what you need to do to keep yourself safe:
- Always keep the original design documents and any other documentation that provides proof of ownership. That may include a blog post, some sketches in a sketchbook or even a Facebook post. The important thing is that you have proof that the design is your idea.
- Register every design you produce with the copyright office – ideally before you start selling it or make it public.
- If you suspect your design has been stolen – and careful examination of the copycat does not assuage you of this suspicion – you have two options.
- If they aren’t trying to sell your design, simply contact them and politely request they either give you attribution or remove the stolen design from their website.
- If they’re trying to sell your designs, ignore your request or respond to you with hostility, contact an attorney and draft a cease-and-desist letter. Should they ignore that, the case will probably end up in court.
- There’s one more alternative here – you can contact the owner or host of the website on which your stolen design is being plugged. If all else fails, you might get the plagiarist shut down.
Keep Your Brainchildren Safe
Copyright law doesn’t need to be confusing or intimidating. It’s designed to protect creatives – and that includes T-shirt designers. By forming an understanding of what it is and how it works, you can ensure you don’t get ripped off.