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SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED aka Private Joker aka The Green Baron is a 32.87 year old boy, has been a member since October 18, 2005, has scored 11,895 submissions, giving an average score of 1.14, helping 95 designs get printed.
Not sure if this is the kind of thing I should be discussing here, but I figured one of you guys might be able to help or offer some advice.

I had a range of T-shirts I was selling on redbubble.com and was doin quite well with it, in a little over 2 months I had sold over 30 tees... they had been featured on a couple of blogs getting good views on flickr (over 36,000 in one day!) and were about to be featured in an article in Glamour magazine.

So the t-shirts were basically this-

Mr. Bat Tee

plus a few based on other characters like-

Mr Kick-Ass

Little Miss Wonder

Mr Iron - MSCED 15/04

There were around 10 in total and, as you can see, a 'Mr Men' take on classic superhero characters.

Now, the problem is, the Mr Men people got in touch with the redbubble.com people demanding that they take down all Mr Men based designs. The redbubble people duly obliged. Fair enough. Nobody has come to me demanding I stop creating or selling the designs so should I -

Find somewhere else to sell them?
Change the design to be less Mr Men but still enough to get the concept across and continue to sell them?
Pick a legal fight with them?
Move on completely?

I did have 'Mr Men' as a meta tag in the design to make them easier to find, maybe that's what they had the problem with?

I'm basically here venting, but I'd appreciate any advice anyone may have to offer? Anyone been in a similar situation or read of anything like this that rings a bell?

I'm absoloutley gutted, it was turning into a nice little earner, but better that that, it was really cool that there were people out there 'getting' my designs and liking them enough to wear them as a t-shirt.

staffell
   staffell on Apr 17 '10 at 8:20am
that sucks big time
staffell
   staffell on Apr 17 '10 at 8:20am
make them yourself
stalliongsta
stalliongsta on Apr 17 '10 at 8:23am
i wish i'd known about the shirts while they were still for sale :(
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 17 '10 at 8:26am
Oh God - don't tell me that stalliongsta



infact if you want join here i'll try and keep you up to date.
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 17 '10 at 9:27am
hmm - has anyone ever had anything printed at zazzle.co.uk? Any idea what they're like quality/print wise?

gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Apr 17 '10 at 9:31am
I think you should drop the idea to pursue the mr men idea any further, to be honest. You'll run in the same problem elsewhere.

They may actually chase your butt personally if you are stubbornly proceedign.
Chengui
   Chengui on Apr 17 '10 at 9:53am
I'm thinking that if they had issues with it one place, that they would have issues with it another. Too bad cause the shirts are sweet! Also I can't see how it's really a copyright issue. You've just done them in the same style :/
martiandrivein
   martiandrivein on Apr 17 '10 at 9:57am
Here's the thing. It's a parody, and obviously so. As long as you're not claiming to be the same guy, and having them actually be Mr. Men. Then I don't think they have legal grounds. I could be wrong, though.
staffell
   staffell on Apr 17 '10 at 10:02am
What gumbolimbo said, and then martiandrivein said.



If they had the possibility of making you any serious kinds of money (which I think they could if marketed correctly), then I would actually pursue a legal battle, because they are so obviously a parody, and nothing you've used looks like it can possibly have been copyrighted.
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 17 '10 at 10:17am
Thats the thing - i'm trying to find out if it's the design which they have the problem with, or the fact that i've used Mr Men, Mr Man, Little Miss etc in the searchable tags...



surely they can't copyright the style (white box, chunky font, simple shape based character) can they?
staffell
   staffell on Apr 17 '10 at 10:21am
Nope, not possible.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Apr 17 '10 at 10:21am
A while ago I've listened to a documentary about the makers on BBC4, and remember they pretect their characters vigourously. Bit like disney does.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Apr 17 '10 at 10:22am
So even if they wouldn't win, they may still win by stamina.
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 17 '10 at 10:56am
Okay, thanks folks i'm goin to try and dig a little deeper and see what excatly they have a problem with.



If your interested in staying tuned and seeing what happens with this - you may want to join this facebook group



Thanks again, and if anyone has any more thoughts, feel free to update this post
C Kid
   C Kid on Apr 17 '10 at 11:08am
I would say parody too. Maybe some small changes? Like Mister instead of Mr.?
Seabs
   Seabs on Apr 17 '10 at 11:19am
hmm i can see why they would be annoyed. i would think they use the font in combination with the image style as a trade mark and so by using them you are passing off. Also, I would say the designs are more parody of the film subject and not of Mr Men and so its a bit cheeky! though i could be completely wrong...
Seabs
   Seabs on Apr 17 '10 at 11:20am
they make very cool shirts though!
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 17 '10 at 11:27am
Cheers - i'm feeling abit happier about the whole situation



i'm goin to play around with the layout and design.



I'll keep you guys posted
glaze
glaze on Apr 17 '10 at 11:28am
Seven Hundred



The thing is anyone can sue anybody they want for any reason. It does not mean they will win, but you can hire a lawyer and take anyone to court.



I know the DiMarzio pickup company has a patent on using double cream colored bobbins on a guitar pickup. No other guitar company can sell a guitar pickup with two creme colored bobbins on it. How do you patent a color??? My opinion is you should not be able to, but this story is true. Other pickup companies will not sell double creme colored pickups. I guess they do not want to go to court with DiMarzio. This has been going on for years.
glaze
glaze on Apr 17 '10 at 11:36am
There was a store in my state called Victors Secret. Victors Secret got sued by Victoria's Secret over the business name being too close to theirs. Victoria's Secret won this case.
glaze
glaze on Apr 17 '10 at 11:40am
Lookup Monster Cable lawsuit. Monster Cable felt they owned the word Monster due to that is part of their brand name.



staffell
   staffell on Apr 17 '10 at 1:00pm
Victors Secret VS Victoria's Secret is fair cop, the names are so fucking alike it's absurd!
glaze
glaze on Apr 17 '10 at 4:01pm
Staffell



Yes, very similar names plus Victors Secret was selling the same type of items that Victoria's Secret was.



Monster Cable thinking they own the word Monster is not right. Monster Cable did not want any business to be able to use the name Monster as part of their business name no matter what it was.
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 18 '10 at 6:24am
this all is scaring me a little bit...

SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 18 '10 at 7:36am
: (
glaze
glaze on Apr 18 '10 at 2:32pm
Seven Hundred



I will tell you about another true story. A few years ago Eddie Van Halen put a stop to anyone selling a guitar striped and painted similar to the guitars he painted and used in the early Van Halen years. You can verify this was completely stopped by trying to find one selling on eBay. No copy will be found on eBay that does not come from a company who has not paid for the rights to produce these guitars. All people making copies themselves and selling them were stopped.



Eddie Van Halen did this due to he had plans of having guitar companies make official copies and release them on the market. He did not want the unofficial copies to be out there and be available for sale. Eddie Van Halen completely stopped people from selling unofficial copies legally.







wullagaru
   wullagaru on Apr 18 '10 at 2:44pm
As much as I hate to say it you cant always go by teh parody rule either as that is widely open to interpretation.



its a tough situation
SEVEN-HUNDRED
SEVEN-HUNDRED on Apr 18 '10 at 4:11pm
I know - think i'm going to just move on from the Mr Men.



Thanks for all your help guys.
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