Nebraska trademarked

Discussion Forums General Zazzle Discussion
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Well, this is awesome.

Got a note from Zazzle that my doormat (that had the Nebraska state flag on it), would be removed from sale as it ‘contains content that is in conflict with one or more of our content guidelines’. 

I assumed it was because it included the word ‘cornhusker’, and the Uni of Nebraska has a sports team called the ‘Cornhuskers’. However the artwork has no relation to the sports team branding and while ‘cornhuskers’ is trademarked, ‘cornhusker’ is not.

However I’ve just received a takedown notice on Redbubble for a design that says ‘Team Nebraska’. This is after a complaint from the ‘The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska’. Again, the artwork has no relation to any sports team or their branding and in this case, did not include the word ‘cornhusker’.

It seems the Uni of Nebraska has been allowed to trademark the name of the state and are currently pinging designs that contain ‘Nebraska’ on Zazzle and Redbubble. I don’t know if it’s just me that’s receiving this unwelcome attention, or others are also getting designs taken down, but I guess this is a heads-up that it could happen to others here.

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Some state flags/seals are not public domain. This is from their gov site “The state seal is not in the public domain, and it is not available for the public’s use”

https://sos.nebraska.gov/permission-use-state-seal-or-state-flag

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Thanks for that information - I’ll be removing any products that include it now. Cheers.

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I had Steamboat Willie designs up for a year. Then starting this year, I noticed every order from different customers got cancelled. I contacted Zazzle about it, and was told I cannot use the design from the cartoon because it’s an IP violation. Steamboat Willie entered the public domain on Jan 1, 2024. I just delete all of the products with the design because it’s not worth getting my account closed over it.