# St Patrick's Day Marketing Q's.



## tomgrin (Oct 21, 2008)

What's up all. Question about marketing shirts on the major holidays, in this case, St. Patrick's day. I noticed that there are probably 8-15 very common 'themes' / 'worded statements', that seem to be used and re-used by many different shirt companies. In most cases, everyone does their own graphics with a slight twist; but the statements are nearly (if not exactly), the same in every case. 

I've designed corporate logos for 10+ years, and I'm pretty familiar with common copyright laws for identity, service and trade protection. But I also understand that there are protections in place for 'parodies' etc., hence half of the t-shirt industry. In this case, we're talking about those drunken statements that are so common to St Patrick's day. In other words, how many t-shirts have you seen w/ "Kiss me I'm Irish", yet it'll keep selling, and wouldn't it be nearly impossible to copyright that statement? Whereas, if you straight up copied someone's artwork, they 'could' (if they had the time, money and intention) come after you for breaking their unique artwork's copyright that was created the second they created it. But these are statements... So.. I'm curious what you've all experienced. It has to be common across the major holidays. 

I'm wondering if it's really ok to re-use these commonly themed 'statements' on your own shirts to sell, or what sort of issues might arise. Any other thoughts on successfully marketing the repetitive themed concepts for the major holidays would be greatly appreciated.


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## tomgrin (Oct 21, 2008)

[Bump] Anyone? Re-using common sayings when printing St. Patrick's day w/o troubles?


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## Adam Selene (Feb 5, 2008)

you cannot copyright a phrase. I believe such short things as kiss me I'm Irish would count as phrases.


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## tomgrin (Oct 21, 2008)

Adam Selene said:


> you cannot copyright a phrase. I believe such short things as kiss me I'm Irish would count as phrases.


Thanks, that's what I thought too, but was curious how other t-shirt companies approach this sort of thing.


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## WTC (Jul 10, 2008)

I'm pretty sure you can copyright a phrase, so long as you can prove that you originated it, it has commercial value, and that it is a legitimate asset of your business. With that said, a phrase like "kiss me I'm Irish" is almost definition of public domain (I think), and as for others, I can't imagine a non-branded t-shirt company seeing the cost/benefit of trying to prosecute it. 

Interestingly enough, I believe some gourmet chefs have successfully copywrited recipes.


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## Adam Selene (Feb 5, 2008)

I'm too lazy to lock up the url of the copyright website right now, but I remember it specifically stating that you can not copyright a phrase. You can however Trademark a phrase, but that's 100's of dollars.

you can't copyright a list of ingredients, but you can copyright the wording of the instructions to combine those ingredients.

I'm not a lawyer, so don't bet your farm on my advice. However I'm pretty sure I understand it correctly.


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## Adam Selene (Feb 5, 2008)

WTC said:


> You can't polish a turd.



Totally off topic:
I'm also in the rock business. You CAN polish a turd after it's fossilized! I've sold several!  [please take this as the humor it's intended to be]


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## WTC (Jul 10, 2008)

haha touche' sir!


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## Adam Selene (Feb 5, 2008)

to go way further off topic, i just saw that you're in Ann Arbor. I spend a couple of months every year up in Holly at the MI renaissance festival.


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## WTC (Jul 10, 2008)

How is that? It's one of those things I've heard about but never attended. Convince me?


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## Vikram01 (Jan 24, 2009)

This is great news, it's like you just gave me 20 new ideas for shirts because I can do them for all of these occasions!


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## Adam Selene (Feb 5, 2008)

Really? you've never been there? I thought by this point everybody in MI had been there at least once in their lives!

Hmmm. there are so many levels to it. a good basic quick description would be a themed craft show with entertainment and costumes. there is the main theme of the european renaissance, with sub themes of fantasy (D&D, elves, Tolkien, (sp?) even the occasional star fleet or Klingon). Then there are all the crafters, way back when it was required that everyone there made everything they sold, over time people doing buy and sell have wriggled in ( which makes it ever harder for us crafters to make a living). Then there is the entertainers, mostly semi-period performers. Lot's of really good musicians, stage acts (comedy, jugglers, sword swallowers). and a joust (real guys in real armor on real horses smacking the sh** out of each other(and then they used to go out slam dancing all night(but I don't know any of the current jousters))). and street characters. and a copious amount of drinking. and wenches. and rogues ( for the wenches).


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## gilberto (May 15, 2007)

One of my St. Patty's day shirts last year said I RISH B{TCH and it was a big hit but later I saw it on the net. I wasn't surprised, it's not like I'm the only one who watched the Chepelle Show. But I was the only one making them in my neck of the woods. Ideas are free and stem from one another and it's all about getting them out there. Don't quote me on this but didn't Bell beat Edison on the patent for the telephone by a few hours.


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## Catbox (Oct 3, 2007)

Heres one to use for St Pats

"You can't drink all day unless you start drinking in the morning"


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## tomgrin (Oct 21, 2008)

I'm sort of surprised there aren't 50+ posts of other screen printers in this thread talking about how many St Patty's shirts they do (for their own lines and their clients') each year... Hrmpf. I suppose they're off printing and making $. Go figure. I figured this would be a huge topic. Suppose I guessed wrong. 

Or is it just that screen printers (not shirt companys/apparel lines) are too busy printing shirts to think about the potential of marketing holidays themselves?


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## Basikboy (Aug 28, 2007)

"Kiss Me I'm Irish" Is Trademarked. How can you use this without any leagal problems? I highly doubt everyone Is paying the trademark holder for using it. Here Is the trademark >> Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)


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## inker (Feb 1, 2008)

Now I'm going to figure out something to print for St. Patty's Day. (Shoot, I just missed Groundhog's Day!)


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## Basikboy (Aug 28, 2007)

If you were printing and selling "Kiss Me I'm Irish" T-Shirts before this was trademarked are you still allowed to sell them? Just curious.


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## tomgrin (Oct 21, 2008)

Basikboy said:


> If you were printing and selling "Kiss Me I'm Irish" T-Shirts before this was trademarked are you still allowed to sell them? Just curious.


First off, thanks for finding that link to TESS!!! That's the kind of insightful response I was hoping for by starting this thread. Because even though someone clearly HAS the tm on this phrase/concept (which is debatable as any TM if you have the time, money and reason to challenge it), that people still ignore it and print it over and over. Clearly, it's just about everywhere you can imagine in t-shirt retailers. Sometimes, it's a matter of the TM holder not having the resources to 'enforce' their TM, but that's another story and not worth the risk in my opinion. 

That said though, to your question, if you did it before the TM, or in any different usage; than you should be clear of concern. More so if you can differentiate your usage, you would also have something to argue should it ever come up. 

So ... we have a solid answer, someone has placed a TM for this phrase. That said, who thinks anyone in the tshirt biz is going to stop printing these shirts because of this? Interested in other's feedback/thoughts...


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## Basikboy (Aug 28, 2007)

I see this phrase EVERYWHERE.... And everyone has their own spin on their design.


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