The dangers of printing art you don't have permission to print
Hey there, welcome back to the startup screen printing podcast. My name is Jesse. Today we're going to talk about artwork and copyright protection. Um, I see a lot of shops in the industry. I've seen this for years and I've had customers come to me when these exact situations, but, um, it's when someone comes to you wanting something that wanting you to print something that you don't own.
Um, or that maybe is a, uh, a spinoff of a brand or a, uh, very, very clearly a replica of sorts. Um, and while you might be tempted to take that order because it might seem harmless, um, it might seem like, well, you're a small shop, especially if you're just getting started. Who's going to know, you know, it's like the meme that you, the video you see online, how will they know they're going to know.
Um, and so I'm just here to tell you that they're going to know and it's not worth the risk. So what I'm talking about specifically are situations like. Um, a lot of times this happens with families or class trips and they're going to Disney World or Disneyland and they want to have, you know, the, the name of the class or the family name printed in a Walt Disney font.
And you can even download a replica of the Walt Disney font and then they, you know, might want some mouse ears and, and, you know, it, it might seem harmless. Those specific items are trademarked and and protected by copyright. Those are intellectual property Items that belong to the Walt Disney Corporation And so I cannot stress strongly enough that you definitely don't want to mess with Disney But you also just don't want to steal other people's stuff Okay So when when a customer comes to you in those situations and are like hey We want to get this paid instead of saying you know Yeah, I could, we could, we could do that because we're gonna get the money and they want it, and I'm willing to do it.
And, um, uh, you know, who's gonna know? Um, you're putting your business at risk and you could lose everything. Um, it is a very, very serious thing to steal someone else's intellectual property and a profit off, off of that. But you're missing an opportunity to maintain that customer, but help inform them. So a lot of people, they just don't know.
They don't think about that, and that's okay. Um, there's a difference between unknowingly, um, copying something, uh, you know, not without any, you know, ill intent and knowingly ripping someone else's intellectual property off. Um, so take this opportunity to educate your customer. Hey, you know, This is someone else's property.
I do not own the rights to reproduce this and profit off of it. Um, or even, even to copy it with the same font so that it very clearly is meant to look like that, you know, even if, even though, even though the words don't say Walt Disney, if it's written in the Walt Disney font and it's. Purpose is to, because they're going to Walt Disney world, then it's intended to copy Walt Disney and that will get you in trouble.
And so you, you know, you have your business and you may have employees and they depend on the income of your business. You're putting all of that at risk just for a customer, just for, you know, a few hundred bucks. Maybe, I mean, if that, depending on the size of that, it's not. So don't, don't miss the opportunity to educate your customer and help inform them that you don't have the rights to print that unless they have written permission from the owner of that intellectual property to reproduce that and have you print that for them.
Um, I actually had a customer come to me in the last several years, uh, with this exact situations and, and they were, That was a taco shop and they wanted to have it. They had a taco that they were calling pity the fool. And it, you know, that's a direct quote from Mr. T. And in fact, I think Mr. T has that quote.
And so by naming the taco that and having it on their menu right there is a risk. And, and to me, they've gone too far. They've, they've crossed the line there and they're putting their business at risk. Um, but they asked me to print a t shirt and that t shirt said, And it had Mr. T's, you know, silhouettes.
So you can very clearly tell it was Mr. T and I just kindly inform them, Hey, I don't have the rights to print this. Um, I don't have authorized permission from Mr. T or his representative representatives to print this, um, artwork. And so I'm not going to be able to do that for you. So unless you can get the permission that's necessary and, and show that to me and, and, and get permission that you have the ability to ask another print company to print this for you and that I'm protected as the company to print it saying that we have authorized use, then I'm not going to be able to print it for you and that customer went somewhere else.
And I just have to assume that some other print shop was willing to print that order for them and Good riddance better them than me I'm not willing to put my my business at risk like that because it's not worth it Even though you might like I said, you might think I'm a small shop who's gonna know You never know who you might run into or who might run across it Who might tell somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody, you know, there's a saying there's only six degrees of separation and that could reign true.
It, it, you just never know. And it's not worth the risk. Aside from the risk though, let's take another position in this. Instead of thinking about it, just as I don't want to risk my business or I don't have the, uh, authorized permission. Um, let's look at it from the perspective of someone who might be willing to take the risk.
The question to ask yourself, then if you're willing to take the risk, maybe you don't have an employee and it's not, you know, your business is not big. So what could they take? You know, well, if you don't have an LLC, they could take everything you own. Um, but if you have an LLC, at least you're, you're protecting your personal assets, but aside from being willing to take the risk or needing the money, do you really want to be someone who steals somebody else's things?
Um, do you want to be the type of person who is willing to profit off of what someone else did without their permission? I do not. Um, personally, I do not want to be known as someone who is willing to profit off of what someone else has created without their permission to do so.
And so I am going to avoid doing those types of orders because again, it's not worth the risk and it's stealing. Um, and so don't build your business. Uh, off of a willingness to win at all costs or earn business at all costs, build your business because you're willing to serve at all costs.
And sometimes you best serve a customer, not by doing exactly what they want, but help steer them into a better direction. A safer direction, you know, by informing a customer that they don't have the permissions to do that and that that actually is trademark infringement or copyright infringement or just straight up thievery, um, by helping that customer understand that you are educating them and you are protecting them.
You are better serving that customer by helping them understand that what they wanted. Uh is not really what they wanted, you know, they thought they wanted a very creative shirt that kind of matched Um their theme and where they were going Um, but what they didn't want was a potential lawsuit and a lot of headache and a lot of a lot more cost So helping them understand that so again, i've seen this a lot with disney you see it a lot with Celebrity or famous things i've seen it with Uh, cartoons, a lot of elementary schools will want to do a class shirt and they'll have a cartoon character on there and it's very clearly a famous cartoon character and that's not okay.
Um, I see it, you know, Duck Dynasty was something I saw a lot of over the years, uh, or years ago, whenever Duck Dynasty was popular, uh, you saw it everywhere. And it's just, it's not okay. It's not worth the risk.
So next time you're approached with this opportunity or a situation where you think, Hmm, I don't really feel like this is, um, New material. I don't feel like I'm creating something original here. I feel like the customer's asking me to do something that I don't have the rights or license to do. Um, I would encourage you to take the higher road there and take that opportunity to educate the customer and give them an opportunity to make a decision as to whether they want to.
Go somewhere else or take your advice and do the right thing and do a different type of print or change their mind to do something that's not stealing intellectual property from someone else.
So, um, yeah, just avoid those situations with your customers. Um, and, and just don't steal somebody else's artwork. Even if you take their artwork and you change it, if it started off as theirs and you just tweaked it here and there just to make it look different, you've still stolen someone else's work.
You shouldn't do that. Use original work. Um, use things that you own or that you have the, the license or approval or right to print. Um, and let's just leave it at that. That's it for the day's episode. Wanna take this chance to thank those of you who have, uh, supported me on Patreon already on a monthly basis. I do post some additional kind of vlog style behind the scenes content there. So if you want even more screen printing and business content, be sure you subscribe and support on a monthly basis at patreon.com/startup screenprinting.
Uh, if you just wanna gimme a thank you and show your support for, uh, the content that I'm creating and help me to be able to afford to continue to do this and make more and more videos. You can buy me a coffee. There's a link down in the description so that you can do that. And I very much appreciate all the support that everyone has shown, um, throughout the last year of doing this.
And I want to continue to do more and more. So, um, thank you again. I look forward to bringing you the next episode. I hope you enjoyed this one. I hope you learned something. In fact, go ahead and leave a comment and let me know what you learned. Um, or let me know if you've dealt with a customer like this that wanted something and let me know how that went. So, um, until then, have a great week and we'll talk soon.
