Legal Question in Business Law in New York

I wanna write to law guru:

I’m interested in making stickers/merchandise to sell online using my own art work. What legality hurdles would I face in terms of using common phrases/sayings ?


Asked on 11/08/23, 11:36 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Frank Natoli Natoli-Legal, LLC

You could run into issues if you are using taqglines or slogans that are registered trademarks of entities that also making similar merch or are famous brands.

Otherwise, if you are using common sayings then really anyone is free to use them as well.

If you need clarification, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient.

You can review our outstanding client reviews here: https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/10007-ny-frank-natoli-1791330.html#reviews.

And our firm is now referred by the American Bar Association (see under the New York section):

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Kind regards,

Frank

Natoli-Legal, LLC

www.LanternLegal.com

866-871-8655

[email protected]

DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is formed on the basis of this posting.

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Answered on 11/08/23, 12:32 pm
Richard Bryan Richard Bryan Attorney PC

That's a great idea. In the 1970's my dad had shirts screen printed with slogans and we sold them at flea markets. Eventually he rented space and bought a 4 color screen printing machine and figured out how to import shirts and made a pretty good business, and that expanded into all sorts of other areas. I remember how proud he was sometime in the 1990's when the business he started on the kitchen table grossed over one million dollars and he probably had half dozen people on the full time payroll and another dozen part time.

The US Copyright office has a publicly accessible database where you can search to see if a phrase is copyrighted. Same with the Patent and Trademark office. Otherwise, you should focus on getting your business up and running and don't stress over "what if I do something wrong?" That's not how entrepreneurs are made in the US.

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Answered on 11/08/23, 9:39 pm


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