Laura Winston, Principal and Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Offit Kurman, answers your questions on common trademark and copyright issues Etsy sellers face.

Note: This is not legal advice. Please review your own situation with professionals.

Questions covered:

• How do I search on the USPTO web site and understand the results?
• Is the word FRIENDSGIVING trademarked?
• Can I use a song title on a t shirt or baby shower bundle of products?
• What about song lyrics?
• How about an illustration of a famous pop star?
• Is parody on a song title allowed? What about a t-shirt that says “In my Swiftie era”?
• Trivia games – can you use the names of songs? Artists? Candies?
• Can you use a picture of a candy to show how a printable works with that candy?
• Can you sell reproductions of vintage art?
• Let’s talk about Winnie the Pooh. Can I use this image in my product?
• Can I copyright my printable?
• What if something is trademarked in one country and I live in a different country?
• Someone copied my printable…but it doesn’t look like it exactly…what do I do?
• Should I be using legal templates that I can purchase on the internet?
• How can I be sure an artwork is in the public domain?

If listeners need further advice on trademark and copyright issues, they can contact Laura at [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurawinston/

Watch the Episode on YouTube here

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