Print and sell T Shirts for an event - legalities?

m33r4

I am after some advice please.

If I was to print T shirts for a major event, for instance the Olympics or Wimbledon Tennis, would I be free to print what I liked as long as I didn't use any official copyrighted logo?

Thanks.

chalkie99

Probably not.

Sport is such big business nowadays that the sponsors do everything they can to deter anyone else from making money from "their" events.

The first Olympic event is football at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and traders have just been warned about advertising - have a look at this article to see how seriously they take it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-18409814

Scarpacci

I think even mentioning the event's name will land you in trouble - whether you use the logo/official font or not. The Olympics have filed for various trademarks to stop this very thing. Even without trademarks, I think it could be tricky to mention the events if they are interested in going after people (and it sure appears they are).

Catherine_Johnson_2

I think they even tried to stop people using the year 2012 in any advertising. I believe they failed on that one, but it goes to show how serious they are.

Proceed with caution.

Horace

I would say not - you would have to be licensed by the event organisers to do so. Certainly around the Olympics and other large events the organisers are taking a very dim view of people who just turn up to sell t-shirts that they have printed. Not only is it an infringement of copyright but also a trademark infringement.

I would be inclined to re-think your business. If you had wanted to sell t-shirts at events such as the Olympics, Wimbledon etc, then you would have tendered for them when the tendering process started.

p00hsticks

The Olympic rings are certainly off limits

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Hanley-shop-s-Olympic-display-banned-Florist-told/story-16193527-detail/story.html

paddyrg

p00hsticks wrote: »

The Olympic rings are certainly off limits

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Hanley-shop-s-Olympic-display-banned-Florist-told/story-16193527-detail/story.html

Round our way the shopkeepers had a bit of fun with this - how close could they get without overstepping the line. Pet shop had a window display of dog collars, hardware shop had reels of hose and frying pans ;-)