Book Covers

[Yvs04]

Hello,
I'm new to the world of sublimation and started selling online just over a month ago.
I sell 2d phone cases and they are going really well.

I'm also new to the subject of copyright and trademarks. I have read and researched a lot
but feel I still have a lot to learn. To be honest, this subject causes me a lot
of anxiety.

I made some phone cases with the Penguin classic book design cover.
They sell really well. I was recently contacted about a wholesale order.

My decision to use this design was based on this:

http://www.copyrightaid.co.uk/forum/topic1426.htm

I know I should just contact Penguin and I will have to soon but I wanted to know
others opinions about this. Do you think my phone cases are a copyright infringement?

Also, I just read about brand licensing today and I'm going to research this some more.
Does anyone here have any experience of brand licensing?
Is it complex? Expensive? Difficult to obtain?

Your thoughts / opinions would be much appreciated!
Thank you.

[James990]

From the little I have had with licensing it is very expensive. I have a license to produce copyright stuff at present, and shall not be renewing it!

[Yvs04]

Hi James, thanks for replying. So it hasn't proven to be a good investment for you. May I ask why?
Like I said, I've only just stumbled upon brand licensing today and it seems like a complex process.
Do you have to pay a percentage each time you sell a licensed product?

[James990]

No I paid a yearly fee, but just not sold enough to justify continuing the license. Had it for two years, but shall not be renewing in 2015.

[GoonerGary]

There is an exhibition called brandlicensing http://www.brandlicensing.eu/brand-licensing-europe where you can go down and meet the licencees. To be honest unless you have a contract to get your covers into nationwide stores it's not worth the effort. You will never make those sales/ profit by selling on Amazon/ ebay/ etsy etc.

I haven't seen your covers, but what that guy said on the other forum about trademarks is a load of crap. It's not his court case, nor is he a copyright lawyer so I wouldn't take his advice. You could use the orange and cream and the font, but not the logo or any reference to Penguin Books. You couldn't use Ian Fleming, Casino Royale because that implies an association with your product and the publisher's book. Just because you see some person's silly hobby business on Etsy selling copyright infringing material doesn't make it acceptable.

edit**

Penguin have their own merchandise: http://www.penguin.com/shop/browse/232/mugs

So that guy claiming that their trademark doesn't go beyond selling books is talking rubbish.

[Yvs04]

Thank you for your reply Gary, that has been really helpful. I've seen a lot of copright infringing material out there on etsy, ebay, amazon etc and I know that just because others are doing it, it doesn't make it ok. I'm going to contact Penguin about licensing but I suspect you are right about it not worth doing unless there is a big contract involved.

[pisquee]

As Penguin have their own products, there is no way they'd license out designs to effectively be in competition with themselves.

[GoonerGary]

Penguin would probably take your idea and sell it themselves. Halfords done it to me. I did a quick search on Etsy and saw a girl doing Penguin phone covers and a guy selling art prints. It is all copyright/ trademark infringement along with many of the other stolen images. So assuming Penguin would grant you a licence, how are you going to compete with the infringing sellers? I would be asking that they took action against those sellers before signing any serious contract.