Question regarding use of football (soccer) related images

[SteveM]

I have a football website (or soccer as it called in the US), that I have been working on since April and last month it got 50k organic page views.

I am pretty certain that, as long as I keep doing what I am doing, I could easily double or treble that figure by the time next year.

I figure if I am getting 2k or 3k people a day visiting my site, I could try starting a store on Zazzle and creating some designs.

I know which posts get the most traffic, so I could create designs related to those posts and encourage people to visit my store.

I’ve read up a lot on copyright and trademark via these forums and I definitely don’t intend to use club badges, names, logos, images that clearly identify a player’s face etc, just to make that clear, but I still have a few questions before I start creating my designs and what is legal or not.

1. As an example this t-shirt.
   It is clearly based on the Chang beer logo but replaces the name ‘Chang’ with that of ‘Cahill’ (a famous footballer). I would think this is risky? Am I right?
2. And this t-shirt.
   Lionel Messi’s face is about as obvious as you can get! Surely this is risky too?
3. However these two t-shirts: one and two.
   Is that ok, because they are just silhouettes of Lionel Messi and he isn’t easily identifiable?
4. And designs like these.
   If I were to come up with some designs like that, would that be ok for the same reason as above?

From what I understand it is important to ensure that people cannot be identified by face, that images are used in a novel, artistic context, and that no utility models (e.g., 3 stripes on the shirt) are infringed. Is that right?

Apologies if these questions have been asked before, as I say I have read through links on trademark and copyright provided here, but I still just want to get a few things clear in my mind before I go any further!

Thank you in advance.

[Sara_H]

@SteveM 

In my opinion only

1. Too risky (infringement)
2. Too risky (likeness)
3. Too risky (breaching intellectual property rights/likeness)
4. Too risky (club colours?)

You cannot use any club badges, names, logos, images, photographs, likenesses, team names, nick names, etc but you know that from reading https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/219144348-What-Content-is-Acceptable-for-Designs-on-Zazzle...

Plus you can't tag your products with team names i.e Manchester United - as that is trademarked/wordmarked in the UK I believe as are many others.

https://www.inbrief.co.uk/sports-law/unofficial-sports-merchandise/

You wouldn't want to be slapped with a trademark infringement as most teams are precious of their brand identity.

[PenguinPower]

Anything to do with professional sport is risky... you can't use names of teams, team colors, names of players, likenesses of celebrities (even if you create them)... You could develop your own brand for your web page, a logo and name that you use and sell that, but anything else that even hints that it is team or league affiliated would likely bring them down on you. 

[SteveM]

Thank you @Sarah_H and @PenguinPower, appreciate your feedback.

I wasn't sure how it works at Zazzle re points 2 and 3 as they are both products listed on the site here, so I thought if I design was dubious Zazzle would flag it up, but obviously not!

I might have a go at creating some retro styled football related t-shirts and steer clear of anything to do with teams, players, etc and see how I get on.

But I get the message, tread VERY carefully!

Thanks again.

[PenguinPower]

There’s too many products here for Z to look at each one as it’s posted… Many things will fly under the radar and not be flagged or pulled unless they are specifically complained about by the copyright/trademark holder or someone attempts to purchase them, which prompts them to be screened before production. 

[Windy]

So true. It's not that we CAN'T design these copyright and trademarked protected designs. We certainly CAN......but eventually these products will be removed, either when reported, or when someone tries to buy. So there's no point in designing and posting any violations.

[PenguinPower]

Plus if a pulled product prompts Z to look at your store and they find it to be full of things that violate policy, they will shut the whole account down…. They understand the occasional slip, not knowing or remembering that something is protected, but they don’t tolerate intentional or systematic piracy. 

[Scott]

Our User Agreement states that you may not upload content that infringes on the rights of others.

https://www.zazzle.com/mk/policy/user_agreement

[idraw]

@SteveM
Hi Steve, (unless you have already found and read it) this may help as you start adding products, important  to consider that words and names not allowed are also screened in tags, titles and descriptions for your product, not just image usage.

Title, description and tagging best practices, from zazzle help, not the forums—-
https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000373127

[SteveM]

Thank you, will make sure I read that properly before I list my first product. Much appreciate.d

[SteveM]

Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciate. 

Thanks @Scott I have read through the user agreement I just had no idea what content that "infringes on the rights of others" extended to!

[Alissanos]

You may not be able to do the products you had in mind but I would think with that much traffic to your site (well done on that!) That you could still offer soccer related products. Keep in mind I know nothing about soccer here..

Obviously your traffic is people who love soccer, so I see two options for you, you could make a generic footbal themed t-shirt with a template where they could upload their own image (but I dont know how this works if a customer uploads a copyrighted image?) You have no control over what images your customers use.

The other option is to make football fan products for example, a necktie with a football pattern? A customizable "add your team name" product. You traffic may well play football themselves and be in a local team and like customizables or just like to show the sport they are into by wearing that kind of tie. I guess what im suggesting is novelty products for football fans, rather than team specific stuff. I just wanted to add some things that you might be able to do instead, if you are not already doing them.

[SteveM]

Thanks for your feedback @Alissanos I am definitely thinking of that, and also working with a couple of designers on some retro themed t-shirts with a football flavour.

As you say I might as well give it a go as I have the traffic to my site and it is increasing! THank you.