images of classic cars on Zazzle

[kennethwfd]

I tried selling products with car images, Zazzle took down the ones with the volkswagen camper van and cancelled the sale of an item depicting a Bentley, so stopped selling car image products, but a search for "classic car" on Zazzle reveals a wide range of products. Confused as to why a camper van in a field infringes copyright, while a Christmas tree on a Beetle does not

[idraw]

@kennethwfd 
For yours, Check your tags and description for those products. You may have a word/words which z disallows. For other SKs products, either z isn’t aware of those products  or no one has reported them yet. We can report products to z when we find them.

[Fiorenzo · Accepted solution]

The shape of the VW Bulli is trademarked, as is the shape of the Coca Cola bottle. if I remember well, the shape of the VW Beetle is also trademarked, but I can be wrong on that one. Furthermore, every car logo is trademarked. Classic car shapes of renowned manufacturers may get you in trouble, too. Not all manufacturers are strict, but some are more than nasty, Ferrari as an example. Car shapes were always debatable in terms of copyrights, and while stock image companies allowed the submission of RF photos depicting cars at first, with time they got more and more banned due to issues with manufacturers. The rule of thumb is the picture of a specific car is usually not allowed, partial shots and shots where the cars aren't the main subject are, as long as all logos and emblems are removed. And as always, check your tags and texts for trademarked words.

[kennethwfd]

Thanks, probably an area best to avoid

[Angel]

@kennethwfd 

I had a Classic Car Design that was removed and when I contacted Zazzle about it, they had had no choice but to remove it as Ford had demanded it be removed. Apparently it was because I had photoshopped it.

Some car companies will only allowed untouched photos to be out there. 🚓

[Barbara]

A car's design Is its road to success, so it's copyrighted and often patented, and this includes a car company's logo. Some time ago, I tried to use a rusty, antique Ford on a book cover design. The boss told me to Photoshop out the emblem, at which point it was good to go.

There are various things here on Zazzle you might spot that Zazzle hasn't as of yet, but they may well do so when a customer tries to buy the product. You also don't want a picture of a Hoover vacuum or a John Deere tractor or any other recognizable product. Would we be harming the manufacturer? Unlikely, but companies do a kind of blanket protection that makes it easier all the way around for both them and us. I'd love taking a photo of my happy yellow KitchenAid mixer and putting it on a poster, but it's the most recognizable stand mixer in the world, so it's not going to happen. 😞

The alternative is to design your own cars, perhaps as cartoons that are generic.

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