Question Rearding T-Shirts

[mishmouse]

Hello all you experienced cruisers. I have a quick question for you. My sister-in-law and I are creating t-shirts for our party (36 or us!) to wear when we board the ship, AND we're making them for pirate night.

My question is will we get into any trouble for using Disney characters on these shirts??? I work in advertising and one of the salesmen told me, "As long as your not selling them and only using them for personal use, you won't be in a trouble."

What do you all think??? I pretty much agree with my co-worker, because other people have made shirts with the Disney characters on them!!!!!??????

 

[mishmouse]

Help!! Please

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

People use Disney characters on everything. There are entire clip art web pages made up of Disney characters. I've read people using clip art and turning it in to Disney to be signed, and having no problems.

I agree with your co-worker. If you were trying to make money off the Disney art, then you'd have a problem.

 

[wearegoingtoDisney]

Get in trouble by whom? I really don't think there would be anyone on the ship with any authority to get you in trouble for this. I am not even sure what type of trouble you are afraid of.

 

[WatchYourHeadNStep]

Any use of copyrighted materials is considered to be an infringement upon all Disney copyright laws. Using any Dinsey characters could be considered a violation of intellectual property laws. Now does anyone enforce this? Probably not, however it does pay to be discreet! 36 people wearing homemade Disney shirts may not be considered discreet.

 

[tstobb]

Yup - not a problem as long as you aren't selling the shirts.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I have several shirts I have made by using the disney card program on my PC and printing the picture onto iron on transfer paper and ironing it onto my shirts.
I have had dozens of compliments from crew members as well as cast members from WDW. They all agreed it was a great idea. I 'm making more for my next cruise. You'll have no problems accept someone may want to know where you bought your shirts so they can get one too. This has happened to me.
Have fun with it!!
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[woj68]

I have several shirts I have made by using the disney card program on my PC and printing the picture onto iron on transfer paper and ironing it onto my shirts.
I have had dozens of compliments from crew members as well as cast members from WDW. They all agreed it was a great idea. I 'm making more for my next cruise. You'll have no problems accept someone may want to know where you bought your shirts so they can get one too. This has happened to me.
Have fun with it!!
mom x4,grandma x4

Good idea. Where can I get that program for my PC?

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I got the program at Wal-mart. I'm sure anywhere that sells computer programs would have it. It was a program for making cards. You have to enlarge the pictures but it really works great and no one will ever hav e a shirt like yours.
My shirts feature one specific character on it with a large picture on the back and small ones on the front.
I had my pic taken with Goofy with his shirt on and donald with his shirt on ect.... Makes great pics and the characters react to them too by pointing and jumping around. Lots of fun.
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[Honu]

If you make them for personal use (not to sell) using Disney authorized artwork, you are fine.

Tshirt companies not affiliated with Disney (i.e., giving Disney a cut) are not permitted to sell products with Disney images.

We used www.customink.com for our custom pirate shirts for the cruise. The online design process was fun, their sizing was easy (they have pictures of models with their height/weight) and the the service was really excellent.

 

[Skaught]

The technical answer - yes, you would be violating copyright laws. But Disney won't bother you unless you sell them. But don't quote me in court!

Scott

 

[kcashner]

The above posts give a good idea of the reality rather than the law part of things. Technically, it is a copyright violation to use any copyrighted material for personal or business use. Reality is that Disney has a history of not hassling you for hand created items for personal use only. They also have a history of strongly enforcing their copyright in business matters.

I've made DD many items over the years in which I either copied the costumes of Disney characters (like for halloween costumes), or incorporated Disney characters or images in the design. I did a "Disney friends" dress where I embroidered faces and names around the bottom of the skirt, etc. That was a wonderful dress, and she wore it to dinner at the Grand Floridian. We had several CMs ask HER (never me) where she got it...she would reply that mommy made it. A couple of times they'd look at me with "you really made that?!)...but it never went past that.

With one costume, someone at the Disney Store commented that it was much nicer than anything they sold. In fact, one of my favorite pictures is from a day that the Disney store sponsored a visit from Snow White. DD wore her costume, and "the real Snow White" showed her how to hold out her dress and pose for the picture...she then taught her how to dance to make her dress swirl "just right."

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

mom x4/grandma x4: What iron on transfer paper did you use? I bought some and printed a picture of my girls on them onto pillowcases for our cruise. The characters signed them, and they were darling.

However, the iron on transfers aren't holding up! They've disintegrated in the wash.

What brand do you use that work better? I'm working on some t-shirts for a family reunion and if I could find something that holds up, I'd love to do exactly what you said for us - that would be fun to put different disney characters on different kids t-shirts! Hilarious!

 

[webray]

You should be just fine!

 

[ivanova]

Technically, it is a copyright violation to use any copyrighted material for personal or business use.

Not if you are using a Disney clip art program; they typically have a Terms of Use statement that says something to the affect that this product is for personal use only (not to be sold, blah blah blah).

 

[DonnaDisney]

What are the Disney clip art programs?

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

1st question:
I dont remember the brand of transfer paper, but it was purchased at wal mart and it was the medium price one. I never buy the least expensive of anything like that. I always go for the medium price.
Plus I know it is important to have your ironhot enough and keep it on it as long as the directions say. I had a couple of transfers that came apart too, but I figured out that I didnt press them long enough.

2nd question:
clip art program is a CD that you put in your computer and it tells you how to make things like greeting cards, calendars, etc... You can buy them with all kinds of themes. I have Disney characters on one and pooh characters on another one. I have seen them for many other cartoon characters. I believe I paid about $12. each 3 years ago at Wal-mart in their computer section.
Any store that sells programs will be able to help you find one.
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

Thanks mom x4, grandma x 4.

There is also a webpage devoted to Disney clip-art, and it's free. Check this out:

http://clipart.disneysites.com/

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Thanks for the web site. I just checked it out and it was great. I'll have to do some serious looking on it for new ideas.
Thanks again,
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[omapcw1]

All those hours in law school finally go to good use. If disney sells a product that provides art work to be used in another format (ie. greeting cards). Use of that product for a foreseeable use that is consistent with the stated use of the product (ex. iron on transfers used for a few tshirts that are not sold in a trade or business but used by the owner of the computer program) is not an infringement. When you buy the computer program you receive a license to use it. You don't receive a license to copy the program and sell it to folks or to use it to exploit the contents for profit.

If however, you go to a random clip art site that has unlawfully exploited the images and use those...you are infringing. Will you go to jail? No. But would you want someone to convert your property for their personal use? Sure Disney has plenty of money and it doesn't really hurt them to lose out on the sale of 36 t-shirts. However, the same could be said if someone decided to carefully remove your car from your garage while you're away, use it and return it washed and waiting for your return. You didn't need it, it wasn't damaged and what the heck, you have enough $$ to be on a cruise.

In short, go buy the software and have fun.