legal advise: cease and desist??????

[DIRT]

I have a prob. here is what happened.

I belong to another online forum, I purchased a screen printing kit for fun and wanted to try my hand at it so I had a decal from the other forum and it was an easy design that I could trace onto the screen. I made a screen with the forum logo on it and tried to make a few prints onto some paper, none of them came out because I just sucked at it. anyways, i put a picture of the screen on the forum and the owner of the site has sent me a cease and desist letter. I did not think it was illegal to use there logo just for messing around ( I know it WOULD be illegal if I intendid on or actually had sold something with there logo on it but I did not). I had absolutely no intentions of anything other than just screwing around in my house. does anybody have any advice for me? I really like the forum and do not want any problems I think that they dont understand that I was simply doing it for fun and not for money interests.

 

[darin3200]

I would just contact the person and explain what you were doing.

 

[LizM]

And if he's still a jerk after you explain - drop the board. You don't need that kind of garbage.

 

[terri]

Am I understanding this correctly? You put a screen picture you made of their logo back on their forum.....and they're ticked off...? :scratch: Tell 'em to take a chill pill; you're not trying to sell it or do anything to bring dire harm to their forum. It sounds like you were simply showing a technique. What am I not getting here?

I'd tell 'em you're happy to cease and desist cause you sucked at the technique and, in the meantime, do they wanna buy a screen printing kit? :mrgreen:

 

[DIRT]

Love your take terri, I wrote him an email but he hasnt got back to me yet. I just thought that it was a bit crazy that they would jump on me like that. I wasnt going to market anything, and if I really was gonna make bootleg stuff would I honestly post A picture in THEIR OWN FORUM? I dont know, it is a tight community of people that all get together too so who would I try to sell to anyway without everyone finding out?

 

[woodsac]

I agree, he's a jerk.

But, in his defense, it is illegal. Just like a photo, a company logo posesses a copyright from the point of it's creation, the creator owns the copyright until sold or contracted. Under the US copyright law, reproduction of a trademarked logo, or copyrighted material is prohibited for both resale and/or personal use.

 

[DIRT]

UPDATE: I talked to him and turns out he was just joking... I was happy to hear it. thanks for the replies though.

 

[Rapala46]

lol, pretty scary joke on your side. lol, thats great

 

[terri]

UPDATE: I talked to him and turns out he was just joking... I was happy to hear it. thanks for the replies though.

Awesome news. Guess that means you're stuck with the screen printing kit, eh?

Keep trying! On your own stuff, of course. :razz:

 

[duncanp]

UPDATE: I talked to him and turns out he was just joking... I was happy to hear it. thanks for the replies though.

Or was he... he could have just been afraid to admitting he over reacted or didnt have case....

 

[Rapala46]

Or was he... he could have just been afraid to admitting he over reacted or didnt have case....

veery true...

 

[craig]

I am glad everything worked out. We could look at this like a lesson learned. At least something to consider. A logo or a photo that represents a company should be off limits to reproduce with out said companies permission. A lot rides on these photos and graphics. These people also pay huge amounts of money for there correct reproduction. I could go on for hours. I understand that your intentions were good. Generally you are better off sticking to original designs.