Laura Winston, Principal and Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Offit Kurman, answers your questions on common trademark and copyright issues Etsy sellers face.
Note: This is not legal advice. Please review your own situation with professionals.
Questions covered:
How do I search on the USPTO web site and understand the results? Is the word FRIENDSGIVING trademarked? Can I use a song title on a t shirt or baby shower bundle of products? What about song lyrics? How about an illustration of a famous pop star? Is parody on a song title allowed? What about a t-shirt that says “In my Swiftie era”? Trivia games – can you use the names of songs? Artists? Candies? Can you use a picture of a candy to show how a printable works with that candy? Can you sell reproductions of vintage art? Let’s talk about Winnie the Pooh. Can I use this image in my product? Can I copyright my printable? What if something is trademarked in one country and I live in a different country? Someone copied my printable…but it doesn’t look like it exactly…what do I do? Should I be using legal templates that I can purchase on the internet? How can I be sure an artwork is in the public domain? If listeners need further advice on trademark and copyright issues, they can contact Laura at
[email protected] or connect on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurawinston/
Watch the Episode on YouTube here
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