# Purchasing images of celebrities or iconic scenes



## Cara69

Hi, Im new to this forum and to the t shirt industry. I am at present looking for images that I am allowed to use for print and resale. I'm so used to seeing many shops selling tshirts with recognised celebrity images and have often wondered if they have bought a licence for each and everyone of them to use for resale? I would be grateful if anyone can advise and point me in the right direction please.


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## NoXid

Since enforcement of IP rights depends mostly upon IP holders actively looking for infringement and then filing DMCA claims and/or going to court, at any given moment there is a lot of IP infringing product to be found online, as IP owners can only find it so quickly, and there is always more popping up. Some IP owners are more vigilant about this than others. 

I'm not encouraging you to infringe, but most of that stuff you see on Etsy, and the like, is not licensed. Or worse, the shop owners were suckered into buying it from someone who isn't licensed themselves. 

All that blather aside, yes it is possible to license such things. There are agencies who license stuff out, though the really big boys (Disney, etc) no doubt handle it themselves. I've no direct experience with this, but I'm sure one of the others will be along eventually with some suggestions. Though maybe Google "IP Licensing Agencies" and see where that gets you.

I see you are in the UK, so not sure how it works there. But here, virtually any imagery that was created by a government employee is in fact owned by every American citizen and is free for any use. However, exceptions still apply, as recognizable people in photos generally retain their rights unless they have signed them away.

And there are extra special persons, such as Gandhi, where extra special laws were put in effect to protect the image of said person. In short, IP can get messy, and YMMV.


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## Cara69

NoXid said:


> Since enforcement of IP rights depends mostly upon IP holders actively looking for infringement and then filing DMCA claims and/or going to court, at any given moment there is a lot of IP infringing product to be found online, as IP owners can only find it so quickly, and there is always more popping up. Some IP owners are more vigilant about this than others.
> 
> I'm not encouraging you to infringe, but most of that stuff you see on Etsy, and the like, is not licensed. Or worse, the shop owners were suckered into buying it from someone who isn't licensed themselves.
> 
> All that blather aside, yes it is possible to license such things. There are agencies who license stuff out, though the really big boys (Disney, etc) no doubt handle it themselves. I've no direct experience with this, but I'm sure one of the others will be along eventually with some suggestions. Though maybe Google "IP Licensing Agencies" and see where that gets you.
> 
> I see you are in the UK, so not sure how it works there. But here, virtually any imagery that was created by a government employee is in fact owned by every American citizen and is free for any use. However, exceptions still apply, as recognizable people in photos generally retain their rights unless they have signed them away.
> 
> And there are extra special persons, such as Gandhi, where extra special laws were put in effect to protect the image of said person. In short, IP can get messy, and YMMV.


Than you so much for your response, you have been very helpful. I was just curious to know how you can generally get away with not using licensed images, especially seeing very small shops or online in the UK selling t shirts with say The Beatles or David Bowie images on for example.


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