I hope not, but...
I've been trying to find a way to make some Time's Up items. I wish I could get some flags made but that always goes nowhere due to the expense of a run big enough to bring down the price of individual flags so that they would be affordable.
Anyway, I was going to make some Time's Up items through TeeSpring. I worked for hours getting products ready. Immediately when I "went live" they disabled my products, saying my design was subject to a copyright claim.
I filed a counterclaim, and never saw a reply (it said it could take 14 days) so I filed another one.
They wrote back that time and said "Time's Up" is trademarked and they will not be reinstating my products.
I've looked through the government's trademark office database and found nothing.
I've asked them who has trademarked it, since it is my original creation. But if they don't respond with a real answer (or not at all) I might have to do something to be able to make products with my own design on them. And this pisses me off greatly.
Does anyone know a lawyer who would do this pro bono? Or they could sue and keep most of the money as long as I can make my stuff.
I've never minded if someone makes a Time's Up product, and have given permission to several people to do so over the years. My problem is if someone has actually trademarked/copyrighted MY design to prevent me from making things. Or if TeeSpring is lying to me.
Also, tonight Patreon gave me a warning about running a raffle. Which I'm not. And never have and don't want to.
UPDATE: I am told these people "own" the words "Time's Up".
UPDATE 2: They have ignored every message I've sent them. So, I guess I'm not going to be able to use TeeSpring to make Time's Up products. I'll try to figure out something else. This is one of the problems with "intellectual property", to pretend someone can own words so that no one else can use them.
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Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.
Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.
You'd still have to manufacture the items, but if there's a way to do that you might simply go ahead and let the copyright holder bring action against you.
ReplyDeleteThey might win. But then, let 'em try to collect. Having nothing anyone can grab does have the advantage of making one judgement-proof.