Printing Images with Copyright

Have you ever had a customer come to your t-shirt business and ask you to print a custom shirt with a copyrighted image? What did you do? Did you suggest changing the art so you could still print it?

When it comes to printing copyrighted images, there are so many supposed “rules” out there that people throw around. We’ve all heard some of these, such as if you change the image by 30%, or the colors, etc.

The truth is, most of these are not true and are erroneous beliefs. Be careful when you are printing custom apparel for customers, or even family members, that you are not infringing on copyrights. You may think you are printing it legally, but in reality, are not. This can be a huge legal issue that you won’t want to be caught up in.

Because of this, when you want to get custom screen printed transfers from Transfer Express and it involves a copyrighted logo, we do ask for a letter of permission with the order. We will not print copyrighted images without a letter of permission. This is to protect both you and your business, and our business as well.

This article from Printwear gives some helpful insight on copyrights – Eight Guidelines to Avoid Copyright Infringement.