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Old 12-20-2019, 11:32 AM
  #17  
Iceblossom
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Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,082
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It's a bit of a sticky issue. I say it is fine to sell crafted items made with licensed fabric but for sports teams I would have a disclaimer that these are not officially licensed products although the fabric is.

One thing to keep in mind is that the fabric has been licensed and made. You are not digitizing or drawing or otherwise "stealing" the image. That's definitely against the rules, say I wanted to make a fabric with an area map of Seattle including the surrounding cities. I could get the grid picture in many different legal ways, but I can't use an unchanged map or the City of Seattle Logo without getting their specific permission.

Some teams/groups are fussier than others. Sometimes that involves copyright protection so that their products do not become generic -- that's why Coca Cola sends out secret shoppers to go to fast food chains and ask for a Coke and why they are supposed to say "we have Pepsi".

Legal Zoom has some nice breakdowns of issues that concern us:
https://info.legalzoom.com/can-make-...ric-21253.html

Always nice when what I think agrees with what other people think

I have to admit, at least one of my Seahawk shirts is not an officially licensed product, yet it is legally sold just not as "official merchandise of the NFL". I started my career in the creative department of a large advertising agency and am a big believer in copyright protection -- but I'm also a huge believer of personal use, I'm a little less certain when it comes to sales.
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