I received this timely email from Over the Rainbow Fabrics a few days ago:
Ahhh - here's some interesting info regarding Licensed Goods....
One of my customers sent me this statement that she'd come across on an item for sale on
ebay using NFL licensed fabric
"Legal Disclaimer (sorry, this is for lawyers!): This handcrafted item was made from officially licensed fabric.
However, I am not affiliated with the NFL or the manufacturer of the fabric, therefore the handcrafted finished item IS NOT licensed by the NFL. The United States Supreme Court gives me the right to sell these handmade fabric items according to the "first sale doctrine" upheld in the court ruling of Quality King Distributors, Inc. v. L'Anzaresearch Int'l, Inc (98 F.3d 1109, reversed).
Justice Stevens: "The whole point of the first sale doctrine is that once the copyright owner places a copyrighted item in the stream of commerce by selling it, he has exhausted his exclusive statutory right to control its
distribution."
So I contacted QT and Kaufman and both answers were similar:
"Hi Laura,
I'm no lawyer but in my opinion, the statement is correct.
The goods are licensed to us and we cannot sell to customers who will make products for sale.
But once we sell the goods to you, we can't really control what your customer does with them.
On top of that, I don't believe that you should worry any over what your customer does with licensed
goods you buy from us.
The licensing agreement really only pertains to our sale of the fabric.
SO.....I think that it's OK for you, as my customer, to use Licensed goods to make handcrafted items if you attach a
statement to the product similar to the above statement!"
From my contact at Robert Kaufman
So, good news for you crafters, scrub makers and clothing designers....