designs you created or trademarked

Hey friends as you know we are not allowed to do others work especially if it is trademarked... so the question i have is how do you go about it when people ask you to do a certain design like say the harley logo? do you do it? do you not do it? or all the superheros...

i get asked a lot if i would do trademarked logos or school logos.... yes when i first started i did them because i was a kid (16) and it was all i knew... a couple years later i learned it was wrong to do and stopped doing it.... i no longer do them but i still get asked to do them especially school stuff.. i nicely say no i can't cause i don't own the rights to that design... and suggest other things... so far i have not had any troubles with it but it does make me wonder if anyone else here has...

i know we can do stuff that is close to the trademarked stuff as long as we don't actually do the actual design...

Is that accurate? What about all the Hello Kittys I see floating around? Or the Minnie/Mickeys? I'm new to this world so I'm not clear on the rules.

I paint them all, I just don't label them as the trademarked name...I call my spiderman "spider dude" and hello kitty is "white kitty w/ a bow", etc. lol

I think the consensus is that if the client asks for it, you can do it. Once you've done it, don't use the photos to advertise (on business cards and posters).

Where other painters have gotten cease and desist letters is when they use copyrighted characters on their design boards with the title of the character to make money.

But, ultimately, you need to decide that for yourself and maybe on a case by case basis. Like it would be a really bad idea to set up a booth in in the parking lot of a sports team arena and use their logo to make money without their permission, you will get shut down. But, if some fan at the fair asks for that same logo and you recreate it, you should be fine.

Where the Disney police get involved is when someone has a photo of, say, a very accurate Winnie the Pooh painting on their board, and they are advertising it as "Winnie the Pooh" and are being paid to paint it. That's when the Disney lawyers send a letter.

Like Denise says, I paint what they ask for IF I have time. Logos I usually get out of by explaining they are licensed and I can't (If you have seen the Edmonton Oilers logo you will understand why I don't want to do logos!) But most comic characters I don't have an issue with - I just don't take photos.

I've done theme parties (Sonic, Batman, etc.) and do modified versions of the usual suspects.

I now wonder that too about the stencils... cause i don't think they are actually made by Kitty or Disney... unless they get them directly from said company...


i have heard of people getting the cease and disist(sp) letters from companies saying not to use their stuff... i do know that if i wish to use college logos i can call the school directly and pay a fee to use their logos... i have thought of doing it for the crafts i do and sell but then decided it was just easier to use their colors cause those are not copywritted... and then place my henna designs on top with white...