Digging Up an Old Post: T-Shirt Sayings - Copyright or Trademark?

[sjaguar13]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

There was a post a while ago, https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=226469 That I was interested in finding out an answer to as I was getting T-Shirt printing suplies. I went back to find that post, but it looks abandoned, so I will post it.

Could I get "My mom thinks I'm Cool" copyrighted so anyone who puts that on a shirt is in violation of copyright infringment? I read on a post for song lyrics that a phrase was not eligible to be copyrighted. If that's the case with shirts, would a trademark work, even though they are several times the cost of a copyright?

 

[divgradcurl]

Could I get "My mom thinks I'm Cool" copyrighted so anyone who puts that on a shirt is in violation of copyright infringment?

No. As you correctly note, short phrases, words, titles, etc., are not copyrightable.

If that's the case with shirts, would a trademark work, even though they are several times the cost of a copyright?

Maybe. You should first check to make sure that someone else hasn't already trademarked the phrase: www.uspto.gov

There are two types of trademarks, standard character marks and fanciful marks (marks with design elements). You are thiking of a standard character mark -- basically, it gives you the right to use that particular phrase, and noone else without your permission (at least for the product lines for which you register your mark.

However, it's pretty difficult to get a standard character mark on a simple phrase or common words. More likely you would be looking at a fanciful mark, that is. your phrase drawn up in a particular manner. These trademarks are easier to obtain than standard character marks, but are also less "universal" in their coverage, as they would only cover the use of the words in a similar design, not all use of the words.

Also, you don't just apply for a trademark -- you not only apply, but you actually have to use the mark in interstate commerce as a distinguishing mark. The purpose of trademark is NOT to carve out a niche where there is no competition for your work -- rather, it is to create an identity for your work, so that customers can identify a specific "mark" with your work, and the mark becomes a symbol for the qwuality and design of your work.

 

[sjaguar13]

Well, that's disappointing. I looked at some shirts, and it has the copyright C, but it's a picture. I was really hoping I could get a saying copyrighted because it's cheaper. At $325 a trademark, it's not really worth it to get the shirt sayings trademarked. Unless, it's possible to get them all trademarked at once. Could I send in a CD, list, or something with all of them (like copyrighting a CD full of music) and only have to pay $325 once?