Licensed Fabrics

Almost any NBA, NFL, and Nascar fabrics can be special ordered. It takes about one week for special ordered fabrics to arrive. E-mail me for availability on licensed fabrics.

Licensed Fabrics

When someone releases fabric into the stream of commerce they effectively have relinquished control over the uses of that fabric.

While the pattern on the fabric may be copyrighted, the actual fabric itself is not. The pattern may include images of registered trademarks, such as the logo of the New York Yankees or a John Deere logo, etc.

Copyright law applies to the use of licensed fabric in the application of the first sale doctrine. Bear in mind, the term "licensed fabric" legally only refers to the fact the manufacturer of the fabric has a license to use the images on the fabric. It does not mean the fabric is "licensed" to the purchaser. "Licensed" products require an agreement between the owner of the product and the potential purchaser. Fabric is not "licensed"; fabric is sold.

The question is: can someone buy licensed fabric to make and sell items? Yes. Will the owners of the trademarked and copyrighted images interfere with the sales of these items? They might.

But, you ask, how can they interfere with the sales of items if the law says you can do this? They interfere because they can. They interfere because they know the great majority of sellers will not fight back by taking them to court. These companies employ lawyers that we refer to as bottom feeders. (1. a fish that feeds at the bottom 2. one that is of the lowest status or rank 3. an opportunist who seeks quick profit usually at the expense of others or from their misfortune e.g., corporate lawyers) Source: Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary.

When making and selling items from licensed fabrics, a disclaimer should be used as well as careful wording of the title of the product.

A seller should pay particular attention to the wording of their sale product and use a disclaimer when appropriate.

When selling an item crafted from licensed material, product titles are important. For example, let's say I am selling a Chicago Bears scrub top made from licensed Chicago Bears fabric. My product title should read something like this:

Scrub Top made from Chicago Bears Fabric and NOT.................... Chicago Bears Scrub Top. It's like the difference between "light red" and a "red light".

A disclaimer needs to be included in the body of the product description such as:

This is not a licensed (Chicago Bears) product.
It is however, hand-crafted from licensed (Chicago Bears) fabric.
I am not affiliated with or sponsored by (Chicago Bears).

For more information, please visit www.tabberone.com .

Every where you look, there is controversy over the question of whether items made from licensed fabric can be sold or not. When fabric manufacturers find out that you have been selling items that you made from licensed fabric, they WILL send out legal warnings.

So how can we protect ourselves?
We have to make very clear, that the item was made using licensed fabric but we are not affiliated with the trademark holder in any way.

The law is on our side, but common perception is not, so we have to be willing to fight to prove that we have right to sell items made from licensed fabric. If we're not willing to fight it, then it's best to avoid using licensed fabric all together.

Licensed Fabric:
Fabric is sold, it's not licensed to the purchaser. Fabric is only licensed in the first place because the fabric is imprinted with trademarked images. The fabric manufacturer has purchased a license from the trademark holder to print the fabric.

What the manufacturers have to say:
Most licensed fabric has a warning printed on the selvage stating that the fabric is intended for home use only and items made from the fabric cannot be sold.

Trademark holders and fabric manufacturers have argued that this warning constitutes an agreement with the purchaser, and that selling items made from the fabric is illegal. Trademark holders have argued that items made from such fabric constitute a "derivative work.".........."derivative" meaning....a secondary piece of work from the original piece.

Most crafters are easily intimidated by cease and desist letters from trademark holders. Most crafters stop selling the items in question, instead of trying to fight a giant company with a dedicated legal department.

Relevant court cases:

The most relevant court case to date has been Precious Moments v. La Infantil Inc., 971 F. Supp. 66 (1997). The federal judge ruled that the doctrine of first sale made it legal for La Infantil to produce bedding from fabrics containing licensed Precious Moments images. The court also ruled that La Infantil should add a disclaimer to their bedding making it clear that the bedding was not produced by the Precious Moments company.
In Lee v. A.R.T. Co., 125 F.3d 580 (7th Cir. 1997), the judge ruled that wall-hangings made from copyrighted cards were not derivative works. In Scarves By Vera, Inc. v. American Handbags, Inc., 188 F . Supp. 255 (S.D.N.Y. 1960), the judge ruled that American Handbags could produce bags made from Vera's scarves and containing her logo as long as they had a disclaimer explaining that the bags were not affiliated with Scarves By Vera, Inc.