copyright of book

[123jlb]

i'm an author, one day i was on the internet and a company call zazzle pop up, i click to their website to check their products out mainly their t-shirts. while i was looking i discover my book cover was on one of their t-shirt. i call them they said one of their representive that sell on their website put it on their. they have been selling the t-shirts with my book cover on it for 5 mos. good advertisement for me but i did not give promission to use my book cover. my book is copyrighted and i have a trademark. can they use my book cover for prpfit for them. sazzle said they are not respondsible. and they want give no info of their rep. what should i do.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Why not speak to them? You don't lose anything by listening. They will probably claim that the party you should go after is the person who put the design up and made the t-shirts available for sale. But if zazzle is actually selling and taking money on behalf of the merchant, they would or should bear liability as well. Disclaimers do not aid their cause. Hear what they have to say and think about compensation before you make the call.

 

[adamtaylor]

Hi,
They cannot use your book cover without your consent for their own profit. They seem to have infringed Copyright issue. You must speak to an expert attorney. They would guide you on how to seek your rights and help get you justice. I would suggest you contact Dandridge Law , name widely known for their specialized Copyright Legal services. First go through the entire website and apply for a query only when you are fully convinced. I am sure they'll prove to be great help.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Adam - while you are correct, the challenge he is having here is that the site prints t-shirts using designs sent from customers. It doesn't necessarily know that the design is copyrighted. The real culprit is the person selling the t-shirts with the infringing design. So while he can stop this web site from creating more t-shirts (and liability for printing), the distributor will find another outlet. This is why I'd settle with the t-shirt maker, who has a legitimate business and would prefer not to get sued, and try to obtain the client information.