Does anyone here do Koolart stuff?

[purpledragon]

Ok so heres the thing, firstly the web site says that the personality is used but not the character (im talking abut copyright now) ie you can sell their matt smith picture but you cant advertise it as a doctor who picture yet koolart advertise doctor who on their site. Also and whats more worrying to me is this .
I had my finger burnt when i first started in this game i rather naively crated a rather nice design for a colour changne mug depicting the harley davidsn badge. I promptly recieved a letter frm harley davidson lawers in michigan telling me in no uncertain terms to cease and desisit selling this design they also very helpfully gave me a list as long as my arm stating what cannot be used including the names any of the bikes the badge infact even the colour combinations, almost! and yet on the kool art site theres a lot of harley designs so where does this leave me if i went ahead with kool art.the last thing i need is a visit to court is kool art legal . i should add that harley also said that absouloutly n one other than a harley shop can sell their name .
so whatdya reckon peeps

[AdamB]

I can tell you that I asked the same (type) of questions to Robert who is the Managing Director or Koolart and they have had the legal stuff already and have no problem in fighting anyones corner 'as long as you follow the rules' (as an example, don't advertise a product as Doctor Who but as Matt Smith).

For the Matt Smith images, as an example - I know that they have rights for using those images as they sell calendars with those images on. They have a licence to use the image for those calendars and also have permission to sell those images onto anyone with a koolart licence to use themselves (they record each image sold and produce returns of which and where images have gone).

I'm not defending them - just telling you the answers to what I asked.

An example of what should be done when using koolart is below (sourced from the interweb when I was researching koolart):

hi

i am a licensee of koolart ( www koolart com ) which produces charicatures of cars. These can then be printed to tshirts etc.

Now koolart state the images are copyrighted by them, but i have just been suspended by ebay because Ferrari S.p.A. (Italy) ferrari_enforce@opsecsecurity com have complained.

The items in question were

KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI 355 MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI 355 SPYDER MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA GREEN MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA GREEN MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA PINK MOUSE MAT
KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI CALIFORNIA PINK MOUSE MAT

I rang koolart straight away asking how they can hold copyright yet ferrari want them off ebay. Koolart said the images comply totally with copyright law as they dont claim the drawings to be official merchandise, they also said they have 1000's of licensee's around the world all selling koolart merchandise and no one has ever been sued as the images dont infringe on copyright. Koolart have also taken copyright legal advice are very confident that there will never be a problem.

Koolart said that there are companies that sweep ebay for fake products and my items have appeared in the search, they havent bothered to look at the actual listing and had it taken off.

Koolart advised to change my listing wording from KOOLART KOOL ART FERRARI 355 MOUSE MAT to KOOLART KOOL ART MOUSE MAT FERRARI 355 as the sweep will not pick it up.

The strange thing is that there were still over 100 of my listings left on ebay with ferrari koolart and went unnoticed by this sweep.

any ideas where i stand?

is it the word ferrari i cant use?

thanks

and the answer

I suspect that this is not a copyright issue, but concerns the use of the trademark 'Ferrari'. In your ebay listings, do you just use the word in a normal typeface or in the distinctive Ferrari badge style? If it is the latter then the company certainly have some justification for objecting because some buyers might be led to believe that this was official Ferrari merchandise.

The plain word Ferrari as used here is not copyright nor is it a trademark - anyone can say or write the word without there being a problem over intellectual property. But using the logo and name in connection with cars and a host of other trademark categories including cosmetics, key rings, wristwatches, sportswear, golf bags and of course motor racing, then the problems start. (More details of the many registered Ferrari trademarks here:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find- ... earch.aspx)
I think your analysis of what has happened on ebay is probably correct. Ferrari or some third party company on their behalf, have done a trawl for the word and have assumed that all the results are trademark infringements. I don't think that is the case with your particular merchandise. Your use of the word is generic in my opinion.
I assume that you have read ebay's policy on intellectual property protection (for other readers who may not have, check here: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/vero/infoforusers_faq.html. Faq 5 is the relevant bit here.

Try to contact Ferrari and get them to withdraw their objection, and if you do not get a satisfactory reply (or no reply at all) you can then go back to ebay for assistance. Understandably ebay have to support their VeRO clients - which include most of the big names - or face even more litigation than they currently experience, but it is a policy that allows you that argue your case, assuming you feel it is worth the hassle

[John G]

Yes, but on their own website they are advertising them as Harley, VW or even the actual model names - surely that is a copyright infringement.

[AdamB]

Yes, but on their own website they are advertising them as Harley, VW or even the actual model names - surely that is a copyright infringement.

? no answer John I am afraid ?

[John G]

Still like them though!

I can see them being very popular if marketed at/in the right places

[purpledragon]

you see you're thinking on the same lines as me john, i luv the stuff and can see profit there but i can do with out court costs or even my ebay account suspeneded. Harley was very specific in what they told me i could or rather could not use and the name harley davidson was definatly number 1 on the list

[AdamB]

Why don't you email the man himself mate and ask what copyright guarantees you have over your concerns?

His email is: robert@koolart.co.uk

This isn't a secret email as his info is on the contact page at: http://www.koolart.co.uk/contact-us.php

[purpledragon]

i might do that adam hows your stuff been going?

[AdamB]

i might do that adam hows your stuff been going?

only just got the licence (few weeks ago) and not really had time to market it yet ..............................

[busybusybee]

Contact Robert by all mean's mate, ive heard of Copyright issue's before but they always seem to get sorted, i think as far as copyright goes there on the edge!! But as there there own artwork i see no issues