Noisebot.com is a t shirt site that's much bigger than little old BurnTees. I recently came across a rather large ad of theirs on Hollywood Stock Exchange that was sent to me by a fan. On it, Noisebot is advertising their Jesus Saves, Passes to Noah t shirt.
This pisses me off because our Jesus Saves t shirt has been around a lot longer than theirs, but since they have the advertising $'s, they're able to go out and push their t shirt in more places and in the end, it makes us look like the copycats. Obviously the designs are different and theirs uses Noah instead of Moses, but I think it's safe to say that it's pretty much the same idea. It's bad enough that there's now TONS of Jesus Saves hockey shirts out there (as far as I know, ours is the original), but when a large site like this does it, it just bothers me more.
This pisses me off to no end but there's not much I can do about it (other than complain on my blog) since the design is different and therefore it's not copyright infringement. I just needed to take a moment to complain.
Thanks for listening.
5/16/08
Complaint - Noisebot is pissing me off
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7 comments:
Man I've had that happen to me so many times, the only guy I managed to get in trouble for ripping me was at CafePress - I did a t-shirt called "Retro God" kinda disco junky thing - then suddenly another one appeared the next week - I had the domain name so cp believed me and dumped his heh. Still not in the same league as the people who ripped you. We indie tee shirt designers need to form a union and get some lawyers lol - take it easy
Mr Paul Baines - you can talk!
GET OVER YOURSELF!!!
You certainly didn't create the phrase/joke. It's been a standard on the internet as long as I've been on it - which is over 10 years now. I know, because it used to be the siggy on my e-mails way back when. And I read it off a generic "Signature Ideas" webpage. So... You're convinced you're the first person to put it on a t-shirt? And what? That means no one else ever can? Sorry. The world doesn't work that way.
IP infringement can be a serious headache and cost you significant revenues, you should consider litigation if you really were the 1st to use this phrase. You don't just potentially have the copyright claim but also the trademark/slogan claim, if you used it 1st in interstate commerce.
The anonymous posters are off base here, the fact that this was in someones sig line or on a list online doesn't preclude their claim, what matters is whether it's a trademarkable slogan, and if so, who used it in interstate commerce first. "Jesus Saves" would not be of course as that's a common phrase w/ common meaning, but the entire joke seems trademarkable to me, in the class of "t-shirts w printed designs" or something to that effect for instance.
The best move would be to federally trademark the slogan in a printed t-shirts class, if it makes it onto the principle register and survives the opposition period you would definitely have prima facie basis to sue anyone who put it on a t-shirt and sold it, even something decepitvely similiar (i.e. changing it to noah and/or slapping a different design behind it). That right is retroactive to the earliest use in interstate commerce for which you can provide sufficient evidence of (as long as you were the 1st to use it and own the mark).
If you want to save cash and time, try a corporate/legal service firm who does this all the time at much less the cost of an attorney, probably faster as well. I've used these guys before w/ good results, been in biz since 2000 w/ A+ BBB rating: http://www.gettingincorporated.com/services/Trademark.php
Peace,
Drac
I feel your pain my friend. I submitted some shirt ideas to noisebot. They offer to pay $250 per used idea. Instead, a few weeks after my submission I see that 2 of my submissions are for sale on their website. Needless to say I've received nothing, yet. I'm working on it though. This kind of stuff really gets under my skin and I won't let it go quietly. Good luck with your endeavor, hopefully you can get some satisfaction from these hacks.
Any of these T-shirt companies sign you up with a consignment? making a percentage rather then just a couple hundred for an idea they can profit on indefinitely.. Very new to this but have many ideas which I've researched and know aren't out there. All are play on words aka. dirty jokes. Any help or guidance is appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.
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