Startups Stack Exchange Archive

How do I determine is something is branded?

• posted by: GShocked on 2017-10-01
• tagged: copyright, trademark, sell
• score: -1

This product on Aliexpress is blatant that it is a South Park sweater, yet I can almost guarantee the seller does not have permission to sell this brand merchandise. Is permission required? Is permission to sell merchandise from Google Maps screenshots like this required?

What about this pattern from the Solo Cup company?

How about this design from an episode of Spongebob?

What about this alternate rendition of Pepe, a cartoon frog created by Matt Furie?

Lastly, this classic car rug has to have a design creator.

So is permission from the creator required to sell these kinds of artworks?

Answer 13432

• posted by: BrettFromLA on 2017-10-02
• score: 1

“Is permission required” is an interested question. Permission is required to avoid a lawsuit. But there is a low chance that there will be a lawsuit brought by the intellectual property owner (whether it’s copyright, trademark, patent, or something else).

• First, the IP rights owner would need to find out that someone on Aliexpress has sold a few copies of a shirt with their art on it.
• Then, the IP rights owner would need to spend money for an attorney to locate the person who infringed their rights, contact them, and start a lawsuit against them. The person doing the infringing may be from a different country, where different laws apply, making it even harder. There’s probably a higher chance that the rights owner will just send a “cease and desist” letter and not ask for any money.

However, if there is a lawsuit against the person on Aliexpress, it could cost that person a lot of money in legal fees, the little money they made from selling the shirts, and legal “damages”. So it is probably not worth the risk.

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