Copyright and ownership of the spreadshop?

Hi,

I am new to this and I have questions. I wanted to use an image which is Royalty Free licensed on my Spreadshop.

The first question is: Who is owner of my spreadshop, what is the real construction I am dealing with as a “spreadshop - shop owner”. I own my spreadshop which is owned by the company Spreadshop powered by Spreadshirt?

Because I was told this after asking a seller to use a Royalty Free license image for my spreadshop:

"This might be an issue as it’s very important that the image is used by the license holder only.

If the image is used by another shop then they will not be legally covered. For example if Shop A is named on the license but the image is handed to Shop B and they print and use the image, Shop B may be liable as for not having a license themselves.

So I’d say if you’re not confident that the image will be used by the original license holder then I’d recommend not going ahead with the license."

But Spreadshop told me:
— “Public domain and royalty free images are allwed for publication in personal shops, but are restricted from sale on the Marketplace to avoid duplicate upload and ownership conflicts.” —

Which one is true? And who owns what as a Spreadshop Owner? I keep reading “you are owner of your own spreadshop”. But isnt Spreadshop really the owner, powered by Spreadshirt? It’s too confusing. And apparently this is very relevant for copyright issues for designs. Thank you <3

This holds true.

For any further legal questions please refer to legal@spreadshirt.net.

In the imprint of your shop you can also see that you are responsible for the content of the shop, we are responsible for the technical implementation.

That’s great and all but I have been e-mailing and corresponding with the seller of the image license and spreadshirt for a whole week now and both are telling me something else.

Your website says I can legally use Royalty Free licensed images for my spreadshop, when they are for commercial use.

However, The seller of the image license tells me that only I can use this license for my shop. But if another company uses this image, because they print the image of my shop on a t-shirt, they are liable because they did not have a license. And now some lawyer from spreadshirts gives me irrelevant information making me liable with some fancy words, which actually makes no sense even though i’m not native with English. I sure know how to follow logic.

So. I buy a Royalty Free licensed image for commercial use. I can use this design on my spreadshop. Then I “allow” you to abuse this image illegaly to print it, because Spreadshirts printing service are not given a license, and then somehow this is supposed to be my fault because I would be liable according to this fancy e-mail because I gave spreadshops platform for printing access to the Royalty Free image? While the seller of the license tells me Spreadshop / Spreadshirt is liable, since you don’t have a license. And why do I read in all pages relevant to this topic from Spreadshirt that it is legal to use Royalty Free license images for commercial use on my spreadshop when I get this story? Man this is a nightmare already and I did not even open my shop.

And also, I have asked who is the real owner of my spreadshop multiple times now and also what the construction of this is in simple words like ownership and which title would be relevant to whom (owner, company, partner, spreadshop, your shop, spreadshirt, or powered by), and somehow I never get an answer to this particular part which absolutely matters in a very important significant way for many other concerns. The way I see it: Spreadshirt has provided a subbranch of the company called Spreadshop. On this shop, a random person can be an owner of a shop. But they don’t own the shop now do they. They own the spreadshop, from spreadshop. Like an acount within the company. And, we dont own spreadshop, spreadshop does (or powered by spreadshirt or something). We get payed, so are we laborers? partners? ownership? a company? Ehm? What does this mean in juristic terms? I would like to understand this for the sake of clarity, copyright and tax related critical information that should be clear from the start. And yes I have read all of your information pages endlessly. No they do not clarify this, or I have missed one of them.

“you are responsible for the content of the shop”. Is that a nice way to cover up the fact that I am not an owner, and that you can put all the blame on me as a misinformed ‘shopowner’ when I buy a RF license for commercial use and you illegally print the image while not having permission by the license, while telling me I can use the license legally, and then telling me its my fault if you break the law of ‘Copyright’ because you print the image without a license? I am sorry but I am getting very annoyed after trying to get some simple answers and I don’t feel like this is going to be any fun anymore. And by the way, I do not believe this argument would cover this in any court. Not that I was planning on going to any court that is why I just would like a simple answer for my simple question. Which apparently the seller of my image gave me, saying that I can use it, but then Spreadshirt would be breaking copyright law because the company uses the image without a license. That sounds like logic to me. But nobody from Spreadshirt/spreadshop will reply to this in a similar logical way that makes sense, I only get responses that seem to be primarily focussed on legally covering spreadshirts behind. Not an answer that tells me what is on the info page. Not an answer at all actually.

You say this holds true. Personal shop. Is that my spreadshop, or was this ment to apply to shops not related to spreadshop that are personal and not on the platform from spreadshirt, because then it would be true yes. But it’s not my question. My question is if I can use it on the spreadshop I ‘own’. Because, that is what is on the information page.

And as a company you can not take your hands of your own responsibility to not break the laws for copyright. I don’t know how this works in the USA, bet not very different, but it seems to me like everyone should hold up to the copyright laws, including spreadshirt. And if you use an image, just like anyone else and any other company, without any copyright license then you can not blame the source of the image because they “gave you access” and you use an image without a license. Because then I could sue, blame or make google the responsible party at fault for giving me access to an image when I break a law and put on my spreadshop that I am not responsible but the source who gave me access is. ?

Have you read our terms and conditions? All the info you are looking for can be found there:

For example our T&C say that you guarantee to have all rights to the image necessary to upload and print. IF you do not have this, this is their problem to solve with your Licensor, and if this is too complex, you should ask your own lawyer.

If you bought a license from someone else, you can send it to verify@spreadshirt.com so we can review it and see if you have the right to sublicense it to us for printing.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

And yes I have read all of your information pages endlessly. No they do not clarify this, or I have missed one of them.

citation.

Well my question has not changed. It’s a Royalty Free license, for commercial use. So it fits your legal description of what ot use. But then you can’t use it because you are not me. And who owns the spreadshop i make. Still not answered. The artist of the image told me It’s not legal and you would be breaking copyright because you don’t have a license. Ehm yeah, then change the info page? I thought this question would be easy. I have read all the info pages, and I already said this. I have already mailed all e-mail adresses, nobody gave me an answer, only lawyer like talk and more links like you. I have the rights yes, but you don’t. That is the problem. Can someone tell me who is owner and what this construction is when you have a Spreadshop. Can someone tell me why SPreadshops copyright page tells me it’s legal to use a RF license for commercial use and apparently I can’t. I dit not buy any license, because nobody answers if I can use it on Spreadshop while stating on a page I can. And now, I don’t know what my status will be as a spreashop owner. And I don’t even want to open a shop anymore at this point. If nobody can even help me answer this crucial question, and I don’t have correct information, I will not burn my hands by opening a shop on Spreadshop.

The seller of the image:
"Once purchased you can use it on an unlimited basis for any use, forever. Note that we’re granting a non-exclusive license and the license remains on the website for others to purchase.

The image can be used on your website and for printed clothing. As long as the image is only used by your company, you’re fine to use it for your print clothing use that will be sold."

But I don’t have a company. i don’t own my spreadshop? I don’t know because nobody tells me this either.

Then yes, you can use it in your shop :slight_smile: