# T Shirt Licensing



## xxxplatinium (Oct 8, 2014)

Hello,
I'm relatively new in the t-shirt business.
I was thinking to sell 1-2 t-shirts designed
with The Hobbit (Bilbo, Gandalf) characters.

However I'm thinking I will need some sort of licensing
to do that, otherwise the movie company might shut
down my site and/or sue me, and I dont want that.

Does anyone have experience with this type of
thing, I mean selling tshirts with movie Characters?

How can I get licensing...I dont know where to start...
Any ideas guys?


Thank you.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

Yes you must have licensing but for most Of us the cost is too high. Thousands of $$$. But in this case use must contact the studio to find requirements. You may need two permissions, one from the movie and one from originator of the series, it does come from a book series..... Or am I confused


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

There are licensing agents that handle the various properties. Here is a link to some of the agents. As you can see there sales are very substantial. http://www.licensingexpo.com/sites/www.licensingexpo.com/files/files/Top30Agents_2013.pdf


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

You don't know until you ask. We know know of several major trademarked oe licensed products that have low or know fees.


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## xxxplatinium (Oct 8, 2014)

Thanks guys for your replies.


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## Broadcloak (Dec 6, 2012)

I don't think it's as cut and dry for most artwork, but it really matters on the level of creativity that the artist/designer is adding to the design. Even post Shepard Fairey lawsuit, there is still a gray area of copyright infringement. If you stay away from any use of logos and trademarked names you might be alright. For instance, I've seen thousands of Breaking Bad themed t-shirt designs - some of which were definitely original designs. I actually asked my lawyer about licensing and here's his response:

"I think that you will OK with the the idea as long as you don't use the show name or logo. Worst case is that you get a cease and desist letter. I highly doubt that they push issue further than that."


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

Just playing devils advocate


> "I think that you will OK with the the idea as long as you don't use the show name or logo. Worst case is that you get a cease and desist letter. I highly doubt that they push issue further than that."


But if they do, there's billable hours in it for council.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

Broadclock...your advice is one that can get someone in trouble...There is NO obligation for the injured party to send a cease and desist letter. It is a an option for them. In recent times more and more are filing a summons and complaint and once served you have 30 days to respond in writing to the court or you will automatically lose...and after served, will probably need to hire an attorney...can get pretty expensive


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## j3rkface (Oct 8, 2014)

Charles95405 is spot on. I was just searching the forums hoping to find some others with licensing experience. In my preliminary research I found a company selling shirts (Fright Rags) and the owner mentioned he got a cease and desist order on one of his designs early on so he changed the design. On another he wasn't so lucky, he had a shirt designed with a custom Frankenstein and changed it up, made it similar to Frankenstein but original. Someone from Universal spotted the shirt for sale in a store front I believe, that incident ended up with damages of a "substantial amount". I believe Fright Rags even commented on it in this forum and linked to it:

Copyrights and licensing for clothing lines | How to Start a Clothing Company

I'd say, do the hobbit design but make sure it is totally original without similarity to any copyrighted designs from the book/movie unless you acquire licensing. Chances are you could commission an artist to come up with a brand new character that would look like it comes from the movie, at a cost far less than licensing. Without licensing, I wouldn't put any lettering on it that suggests its like or from the original movie/book either.


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