just because the same subject matter has been used elsewhere doesnt mean its exclusive. not everything is a damn rip-off.

they don't look the same

S the Threadless one is ten billion times better. it says HOORAY!

dman.
what my comment was SUPPOSED TO SAY was

the text is different, the illustration is different. the slogan is different.and all are far far superior to that one (not that that matters when thinking of copyright but i REALLY like this shirt) i dont think that the use of cryptozoology as a theme can be considered copying as many subjects are used over and over and over again in very differnet designs.

the only thing in common is the word Cryptozoology! does that mean every design that has a heart or a gun or a horse or a 'I love blah blah blah' etc.... in it is a rip off of some other design with the same thing in it?

I don't think it's a rip whatsoever but I do like the Random Shirts design more. I have it in a hoodie :)

man, all I can think of is how fucking TERRIBLE that tracing of the unicorn is and then that typography. .... dear god, please strike that designer down before he/she designs again.

I just don't understand how this could possibly be construed as a rip-off. The designer of that T-shirt didn't invent the word cryptozoology, and that's the only SINGLE thing the shirts have in common. By your logic, every T-shirt with a dragon on it is a rip-off of one another. There are millions of different designs approaching themes from different angles, and I'm pretty sure this threadless design is a rather extremely different angle from the random shirts example.

....And a much better one.

the thing i like best about the threadless version is that it doesn't include a unicorn

It's neither a rip-off nor a trendy topic. Two shirts with one shared premise is a trend now? And I'm sure that more than one person is capable of coming up with "hey! why don't I design a shirt with a reference to cryptozoology on it?" in this big ol' world of the internets.

Anyway, the Randomshirts one is piss-poor, not to mention bearing less of a relation to cryptozoology than the Threadless one.

I'm certainly not saying that it's a 'ripoff', but you're not alone-- I *instantly* thought of the randomshirts design when I saw this one printed.

I like the randomshirts design better. The animals on the threadless ones look...how can I put this. Ugly.

*exasperated sigh*

Two words: Giant Squid.

(Plus, IMO the random shirts one looks a little rudimentary.)

you can't copyright an idea, plain and simple. you can only copyright the specific expression of an idea, and these two designs are different expressions of the same idea - different colours, text, design.

Actually, I had the same thought when I first saw this threadless shirt.... But I do have to agree that they are different enough that it doesn't matter... I would like to know where the designer got the idea, though... Because the slogans are very similar...