This is something i had happen to me a while back whn putting a halloween cosume togeather. Back in 92’ or so there was this show called Beavis and Butthead and it was pretty funny at the time. So I was going to go as Beavis or Butthead (I had both big rubber masks) and so I went to the mall to get t-shirts done for each one.
Beavis had a “metallica” shirt but it wasn’t like a real tour shirt. Just a black T with metallica on it, Butthead had an AC/DC shitr if similar style.
Anyhow, the T-Shirt printing shop refused to make either shirt for me (I ended up getting one that said “Skull”) because the bands “would sue them” over it.
Now maybe Metallica is trademarked but how can to TM the word AC/DC? It existed before the band as an electrical reference. Hell I see AC/DC listed in user’s manuals all the time. I know you can copywrite a font/word combination (Campbells is an example. They have successfully sued on the grounds of someone making a joke product using a similar enough font and sounding name on cans of joke named food like “Pussy n’ Dumplings”).
So my question is, was this T-Shirt Store person an idiot or is there some truth to the belief that they would get sued over my request.
oh, and I’m aware that you CAN sue for anything you just might not win or get prosecuted for malicious litigation. I mean could they have had a legitimate fear of losing a lawsuit for the aforementioned reasons?
Kinko’s/Staples won’t blow up magazine pictures into posters either. Or even make copies of them.
I suppose if they do it a lot, then there could be a problem. Just once for you I don’t think they’d have to worry, but if they let you do it, then they have to let others do it too.
AC/DC I could see getting away with though. You could be like “I love electricity”.
You could probably get away with it if you used the “AC/DC”. However, if you tried to get them to put the lightning bold thingie that AC/DC uses instead of the slash, they might object then.
Anyway, like you said, B&B always had the metallica and AC/DC shirts, but sometimes they sported the generic shirts, the “Skull” one that you mentioned, and my favorite (you should go with this one for your costume) “DETH ROCK” in the def leppard style lettering. Yeah!
AC/DC is probably trademarked with the right font and the flash for the slash. However, they could get basis for a suit if you used AC/DC in a way to convey their symbol, even if not quite right. Would they sue? Who knows? For one T-shirt, probably they wouldn’t even know. But how frequent a request would it be for fans to go get T-shirts made with their band name on it, but just tweak the font? I mean, concert T-shirts run $20 or more - bet you can get a custom print for less. If that happened, the shirt company would most definitely get sued for infringing on the band’s (record company’s) rights to the logo. Thus the prohibition, probably a company policy, not to copy any band’s name. Save’s them legal troubles.
You can trademark all kinds of common words. Consider Apple Computers.
Note that a mark like “apple” would not get very wide protection though. If you wanted to start the “Apple Restaurant,” Steve Jobs would have nothing to say about it
Certainly, if AC/DC is trademarked, you would have a hard time starting a rock band called AC/DC.
At the risk of oversimplifiying, the key (in the U.S.) is “likelihood of confusion.” A tee-shirt would be a harder call. It seems to me though, that the “AC/DC Electronics Superstore” would be entitled to print t-shirts that say “AC/DC”
Another thing to keep in mind is that a trademark can be more than just the words. What I mean is, if the word is printed in a stylized way, then it can be a lot stronger.
Thus, as pointed out by another poster, if “AC/DC” is printed in a certain font, with a little lightening bolt, etc. etc. then the band would have a much stronger claim.
(standard disclaimer about legal stuff)
