Copyright and Small Business + Trademarks for Makers, Creatives, Crafters, DIYers, Etsy Sellers

As a small business owner, there are few things worse than putting in all your hard work, time, and energy to build up your story and brand, only to have it taken down. Worse yet, you could find yourself facing a copyright or trademark infringement lawsuit. It is important to understand the differences between copyright and trademark law in order to protect yourself when crafting handmade items.

In this blog post, I'm going to walk through exactly what copyrights are, trademarks are and what you need to know.

Copyrights

are for musical literary, dramatic, artistic works, or even things like software code or tests. Trademarks are generally for names, words, brands, anything that would be belong to a specific brand and their brand identity. So if you have family photos taken or wedding photos taken the copyright belongs to the photographer. You do not own the rights to your photos.

Trademarks

are in place to provide protection for brand identity. So people will trademark logos and slogans and phrases or anything that is part of their brand identity.

Examples of this are Nike, the name Nike is trademarked, the symbol of their swoosh is trademarked, and the phrase just do it is trademarked because all of those encompass the Nike brand.

It is illegal to use or profit off of somebody else's work without permission.

Using Images/Designs

Google Images

If you are finding images on Google search, You are not given permission to use that just because it's on Google. Artists created that image and they own the rights to that image.

So unless you go to the source and purchase the commercial rights from the artist, it is illegal to just pull photos off of Google.

Even if you slightly change something, change the color changed, like put a heart on the end of the Nike Swoosh, it is still part of their brand and it is still a recognizable piece of their brand. So you cannot use it legally.

SVG Designs

If you are using a design or an SVG that was created by somebody else, the rights belong to the original creator and you can purchase SVGs online.

Do you know the answer to this question: do you have commercial use rights?

A lot of things are sold with only personal use clauses, but some you get commercial rights so you need to look in the fine print to see how many items you can sell or the types of items you can sell.

I get the majority of my svgs & sublimation designs on Creative Fabrica. I have a subscription and 10/10 recommend for fonts & designs! You can get one month FREE here.

Common Phrases & Etsy

There are some common phrases or words that are actually trademarked. And sometimes when you hear them, you're going to be like THAT is outrageous.

However, somebody went through the time effort and paid enough money to get those legally trademarked.

Examples of this are something like #mom,life or boymom. When something is trademarked, you CANNOT legally make & sell items with those phrases.

If you're selling on Etsy or your own website, having these words in the title, or even the tags, especially in Etsy can get your shop taken down. So if you make a onesie and you put it on your website, but it's not a Gerber brand AND you didn't get permission from Gerber to use that word, you will HAVE to use the word bodysuit.

Even if you put “onesie” in the tags, they can still ding you for copyright infringement.

Your Responsibility

As a responsible business owner, it is important to make sure that you are not infringing on any copyrights or trademarks. It is important to know the scope of what you are allowed to use and sell. Be sure to check the terms and conditions of any designs, fonts, or images that you purchase, and that you have the right to use them commercially.

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