Copyright Aid

Woohoo. Thanks Andy.

Would anyone like to buy a t shirt?

Hi again,

I asked for a quote for T-shirt printing and got the following reply from a printing company-

Many Thanks for the enquiry. I'm afraid we cannot print images of celebrities without written permission from them or their representative.

There is a short guide about this here:
http://www.firelabelbespoke.co.uk/guide ... ng-celebs/

Does anyone have any advice please? Is the printing company just being cautious while they see how the new law pans out or are they correct that reproducing a celebrity's image is just a complete no-no? This seems to contradict the advice further up this thread.

Thanks in advance

Hi eefee,
I think they are being ultra cautious.
The short guide that you linked to cites the Rihanna v Top Shop case. But as Mr Justice Birss said in that case (at paragraph 2):

It is important to state at the outset that this case is not concerned with so called 'image rights'. Whatever may be the position elsewhere in the world, and how ever much various celebrities may wish there were, there is today in England no such thing as a free standing general right by a famous person (or anyone else) to control the reproduction of their image.

The case was actually about passing off, and was based on the fact that Top Shop were selling tee shirts with Rihanna's image on at a time when she had an endorsement deal with rival store River Island. Rihanna won simply because the court was satisfied that Top Shop were trying to cash in on Rihanna's goodwill as a fashion icon. To make matters even clearer, here's part of the concluding paragraph of the judgment

The mere sale by a trader of a tee shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not, without more, an act of passing off.

So since that appears to be the sole justification offered for not printing your tee shirt, the company have badly misinterpreted the law. What is more, despite the reference to the new parody fair dealing exemption, that has nothing to do with image rights either.

Hi Andy,

Thanks once again for your advice. The judge does seem pretty clear on this aspect.

Are you a legal professional btw? You seem to know your stuff.

Anyway. I've written back to the print company. I'll let you know their response.

Thanks again