I'm glad to see someone posted this! This is one of those arguments that keeps going and going and going!! It is legal! Plain and simple!! I see University of Kentucky stuff for sale at craft shows all the time. Trust me, if it wasn't legal, they would stop it. The universities are very controlling!! Even the all-powerful Disney has lost a case on this!
Originally Posted by
Cari-in-Oly
I make purses and other items to sell with copyrighted sports fabric. I've gotten into more than one discussion and even arguments over whether what I do is legal. Yes, it is legal. This went all the way to the Supreme Court and here is a portion of the ruling:
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."
In other words, once you buy the fabric, it is yours to do what you wish with it.
Cari