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Design Ethics
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2006
Status:
Offline
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Hey everyone
Just recently graduated from college...am going to be starting a masters program soon down the road. I'm currently working for a company whom I will leave nameless(safe than sorry) and I am getting bored to tears. I KNOW that I will someday be a freelance designer and hopefully college professor(hence my getting the masters degree)
Unfortunately I don't want to go on my own while still in school...when I have my own design business I will want to commit 110% percent of my time to my clients. But, untill I have the time to do so, I need something to keep me busy.
Hence my idea to start a t-shirt business. I know DIY silkscreen tshirts are a dime a dozen nowadays, but I have a really interesting idea, and if I dont sell 1 shirt my losses will be minimal.
but I have a bit of an ethical question...my tshirts are going to involve prints of celebrities faces. They will not be pictures, but hand drawn by myself...I know this sounds cheesy but I think once a shirt is shown it will make alot more sense.
Now, by drawing a picture of a celebrity and selling shirts will I be commiting any sort of copyright infringement? I would like to, in some way, include their name in the shirt as well, but I'm almost possitive that that would be a big no-no.
Has anyone ever dealt with anything like this? Please guide this freshly graduate lost soul
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Status:
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This actually sounds like a legal question. And the answer is: Maybe. Different places have different laws regarding the use of likenesses. Tiger Woods tried to sue over a painting and lost, but others have won.
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Chuck
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"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status:
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Yeah this is a legal question, I'm going to go ahead and bet 'yes, its a problem', but I'm not a lawyer.
Also, don't forget the old adage, "Those who can't design, teach." 
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status:
Offline
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Also, I never understood why people went for their masters degree in design with no significant real world experience, whats the point?
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Moderator  Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Nobletucky
Status:
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Are these living celebrities? Then you will most likely have to get permission to use their likenesses. Even if they are dead, most likely their likenesses are being managed either by the estate or a marketing firm. This is especially true since you are intending to profit from the sale of the likenesses. You could try to stay under the radar with the shirts (and you could well be successful that way) but all it takes is one person to see one of the shirts.
And, to piggyback on what godzookie2k said...If your intention, ultimately, is to teach, please do your future students a big favor and get a good load of real-world experience under your belt before you head back for the masters. Students today are coming out of school with a lot of really flashy DVD portfolios, chock-full of hot Flash and web work. But a paltry few of them have any clue how to properly prepare a file for print...which will still account for the great bulk of what they will be doing.
An instructor who has been there and sees the importance would be a godsend to their careers, even if they don't know it at the time.
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