Free speach or trouble ahead?

[rock5986]

South Carolina

Hi,
I was thinking of selling some t shirts but am concerned that it may cause problems. Can you take a look and tell me if this is freedom of speech or trouble ahead? And if so what could I do to avoid problems? Its all in fun. Heres basically what it will look like. Thanks!

[url]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u85/rock5986/example.jpg[/url]

[Alex23]

You sure have a way with words.

[quincy]

It is freedom of speech.

An opinion, which your tee-shirt example depicts rather clearly, is free speech. Opinions are neither provably true nor provably false and can be freely expressed, even on a tee-shirt.

Although some people may find your shirt offensive, and let you know that in a less-than-polite way , your tee-shirt avoids violating any obscenity law that I am aware of (even though your tee-shirt depicts what is often called an obscene gesture), and opinion is a fairly solid defense to defamation, should anyone be offended enough by your tee-shirt to try to sue over reputational injury (large government entities, by the way, cannot sue for libel).

As long as you intend to stick to government entities, you should be all right. Singling out an individual should be avoided, and small, non-government groups (where individual members can be easily identified) should probably be avoided, as well. This is mostly because the likelihood of a legal action is greater when you have specifically targeted an individual.

Of course, it is always wise to run any idea by an attorney before investing any money into an enterprise such as the one you are contemplating. And a South Carolina attorney can better point out to you laws specific to your part of the country that I might have missed and that could cause you major legal headaches should they be ignored.


(your tee-shirt, by the way, might sell pretty well in Detroit right now )

[rock5986]

Quincy,
Thanks for your reply. By the way, what has the Detroit City Councel done? LOL
Would it be a good idea to add "In my opinion" in small print to these tee shirts?

[quincy]

You don't really need to add "In my opinion" to the shirts. Something is either an opinion or it is not, and your tee-shirt is clearly opinion.

As for the Detroit City Council, there is not enough space here to answer your question fully.

[cyjeff]

Originally Posted by quincy

You don't really need to add "In my opinion" to the shirts. Something is either an opinion or it is not, and your tee-shirt is clearly opinion.

As for the Detroit City Council, there is not enough space here to answer your question fully.

How come every question today as a Kwame inference?

[quincy]

I love Detroit, but the Detroit City Council has some major issues, with or without Kwame in the picture.

[>Charlotte<]

Before you start selling them, you need to fix "councel".

[quincy]

Good point, Clt!

As an editor, I am certainly remiss in not pointing that out. I think I am so used to misspellings on this forum, I barely notice them anymore.

The word you want to use on your tee-shirts, rock, is spelled "Council" with an "i" not an "e."

[rock5986]

I usually dont recheck my spelling on quick texts messages / forums/ emails. Thanks for pointing it out.

[quincy]

Yes, it was good that Clt caught that! Good luck with your tee-shirt sales.

[racer72]

Brave are those souls that will wear an item of clothing that proudly displays one's IQ.