Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!ira.uka.de!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!hubcap!gamma!elwin
From: elwin@gamma.std.com (Lawrence E. Brown)
Subject: Re: Floyd T-shirt
Message-ID: <1993Apr15.150028.7544@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Sender: news@hubcap.clemson.edu (news)
Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC
References: <930315.090426.ahaavie@pcifm02>
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1993 15:00:28 GMT
Lines: 39

In article <930315.090426.ahaavie@pcifm02> ahaavie@ulrik.uio.no (Anders Haavie) writes:
>
>>I love it!  But:  It should have "Floyd Here Now!" on the front, and the ballad
>>of the starcrossed miner on the back (The last Floyd song you mention)
>
>Great idea !!!
>
>>The other thing, you may well run into copyright problems.  While Floyd, the
>>name, may not be copywritable, certainly the ballad would be.  I would say that
>>activision owns that copyright now.  Maybe we should write to Activision and
>>ask them?
>

>
>If they say NO, let's do it anyway. How much damage can 15 t-shirts do ?

You've got the right idea here...

From what I know about trademark law (which is only what I get
from reading pieces in Comic Buyers Guide) Activision (or
Mediagenic) probably owns the trademark (far more stringent than
copyrights) on any number of things you're trying to use here.
If you want to do it for yourself and (net) friends at cost, I'd
say go ahead and ignore Activision (they're a company; unless
you pay them a liscensing fee, they'll say no, that's how
lawyers think, never mind that you're only making 15-30 shirts
for the fun of it and might actually advertise their product
while you're at it). If you want to sell the thing, call them
and work out a licensing deal. Who knows? Maybe they'll be
reasonable. 

Just my $0.02,
Larry

-- 
Larry Brown                        "Philip K. Dick is dead, alas
elwin@gamma.phys.clemson.edu        Let's all queue up to kick God's ass"
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy      --Michael Bishop in _The Secret Ascension_
Clemson University                  
