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Content Usage Policy

Welcome to the CafePress.com Content Usage Policy. This Content Usage Policy sets forth the guidelines for use of content through the CafePress Service. Users of the CafePress Service are responsible for making sure their content complies with this Content Usage Policy. If you believe a user is infringing upon your intellectual property rights please use the process set forth in our Intellectual Property Rights Policy. If you would like to report something that you believe does not comply with this Content Usage Policy, please email cup@cafepress.com.

Questionable Material & Prohibited Content
Marketing Restrictions
Intellectual Property Information
Frequently Asked Questions
Additional Sources for Information

Questionable Material & Prohibited Content

All content being used in connection with the CafePress Service will be graded using a White - Gray - Black scale. Content that is clearly acceptable to use will fall within the White Zone. Content that is strictly prohibited will fall within the Black Zone. Content that is questionable will fall within the Gray Zone. Content that is deemed to be in the Gray Zone but closer to White Zone may have a higher probability of not being removed from a user's shop, while content that is deemed to be in the Gray Zone but closer to the Black Zone may have a higher probability of being removed.

Below are some general types of content that are prohibited on CafePress. CafePress will determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, whether your content is in compliance with this Content Usage Policy (CUP). Any content that is determined to be in the Gray Zone may be subject to removal in accordance with the CafePress.com Terms of Service and Shopkeeper Agreement.

General Guidelines for Prohibited Content

The list outlined above should NOT be construed as an exhaustive list of offensive material but rather as a general guideline for you to follow.

Click here for Examples of Prohibited Content

PLEASE NOTE: CafePress has millions of users from varied backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures, who differ in their views about what is considered offensive and acceptable. We recognize that with such global diversity there will be differences about what is considered offensive and that someone somewhere in the world may be offended by the opinions, perspectives and creative expressions of some of our users. We ask that all users respect each others' right to express themselves in a manner consistent with this Content Usage Policy.

Marketing Restrictions

Prohibited Software
You may not use any software to advertise, market or promote your CafePress products and shops if the software does any of the following:

Email
Any commercial email you send to market and promote your CafePress shops or products, or related to your use of the CafePress Service must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 as amended and any other applicable laws governing email communications, including without limitation, the following:

For more information on compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 please visit the Federal Trade Commission website at http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

URLs, Keywords, Search Terms, and other Identifiers
You may not use in your domain name or URL, nor may you purchase or register in any search, referral, or advertising service (such as Google's AdWords program) any of the following terms:

  1. Any domestic or international CafePress company trademarks, and all translations thereof, including without limitation, "CafePress", "CafePress.com," "Cafe Press," "TopicAds," "CafePress Affiliate Program," "What's Your Passion," "Always Something New," "CafePress Connect," "CafeShops," "CafePress Wire," "Be An Original Every Day" or any URL or keyword string that includes CafePress company names (for example, "www.yourcompany-CafePress.com"); or
  2. Variations of any CafePress company trademarks (for example, "caf-press").

* Please note: this is not an exhaustive list of prohibited words, phrases, or combinations thereof.

CafePress Branding Bar
You may not remove or alter the CafePress branding on your storefront and store pages.

False or Misleading Marketing Material
You may not use false or misleading content to market and promote your shops and products. Some examples of false and misleading information are:

  1. Making claims that the proceeds from products sales will go to a charity without first obtaining permission from such charity to use their name in connection with product sales.
  2. Use of a third party trademark to market your content (e.g. using "Gucci" in your product descriptions, product titles, tags or other SEO text on your CafePress shop).
  3. You may not spam or attempt to deliberately subvert the results of the CafePress directory or search engine with false, misleading, or unnecessarily repetitive information (e.g., tag spamming or artificially increasing your CafePress search results rankings).

Intellectual Property Information

This Intellectual Property information is provided to help you better understand Intellectual Property laws as they relate to your use of content through CafePress. The information contained on this page is for informative purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. For specific advice regarding your use of content through CafePress, please consult an attorney.

Copyright

What is a Copyright?
Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as a picture, drawing, graphics, software program, written work, sculpture, song, or photograph. A copyright is created as soon as a work is fixed in a tangible medium (e.g., on paper, on video, on canvas, etc.). A copyright is a bundle of rights, including the exclusive right to distribute, sell, duplicate, publicly perform, and create derivative works from the original work. Copyright law prevents you from copying, distributing, selling, or publicly performing another's original work without permission. Copyright law also prevents you from creating derivative works based upon or derived from another's original work without permission. Copyright protects original expressions of ideas not the ideas themselves.

How long does copyright protection last?
As a general rule, for works created after Jan. 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. For works created prior to 1978, the term of a copyright depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. In general works created before 1922 are in the public domain. However, if a change has been made to a work taken from the public domain, the new work may be copyrightable and protected. To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (Title 17 of the United States Code).

What material is in the public domain?
A work of authorship is in the "public domain" if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner. You should NOT presume that material is in the public domain without verifying it with an attorney or other reputable source. You should also NOT presume that material publicly available on private or commercial websites is not protected by copyright.

What is fair use?
"Fair use" is a principle of copyright law allows for the unauthorized use of another's original copyrighted work for the purposes of criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. In determining whether a given use is "fair," courts look at four primary factors:

Fair use is a difficult and murky concept, even for experts, so you should consult with an attorney before using copyrighted material in connection with the CafePress Service, even if you think that such use is "fair." One way to evaluate whether a use is "fair" is to consider your own reaction if someone used your work without permission.

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Trademark

What is a Trademark?
A trademark is a word, name, symbol or other device that identifies the goods or services of a given person or company and distinguishes them from the goods or services of other persons or companies. Trademark law prevents you from using another's trademark (such as the name of a musical group or artist) on your merchandise, because such use will cause consumers to believe that the trademark owner has made, approved of, or endorsed your merchandise. In short, a trademark is someone's name/brand. For example, CafePress.com is a registered trademark.

What is a Service Mark?
Any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof adopted and used by a merchant to identify and distinguish their services from those provided by others and to indicate the source of the services. For instance, "What's your passion" is a Service Mark of CafePress.com.

What can be trademarked?
Word(s), word(s) plus design, trade dress, packaging, sounds, slogans, smells, service marks, geographic marks, collective marks, certification marks, and family marks.

What is Trade Dress?
Trade dress can function as a trademark and is used to identify the goods of a party in the marketplace. For instance, trade dress can be the shape of a Coca Cola bottle or the shape of a classic Volkswagen Beetle car.

What are Trademark Rights?
An owner of a trademark/service mark has the right to use that trademark/service mark and to prevent others from benefiting from the trademark/service mark's good reputation and recognition in the marketplace.

What is the difference between a Trademark and a Registered Trademark?
The ® symbol represents that a trademark is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The ® symbol may only be used in association with a trademark that is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If the trademark/service mark is followed by a TM or SM symbol the goods/services provider is using the mark as a trademark, although the mark may not be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Right of Publicity

What is Right of Publicity?
The "right of publicity" makes it unlawful to use another's identity for commercial advantage without permission. A person's "identity" includes, for example, his look, voice, name, nickname, professional name, and other distinctive characteristics. For example, the Right of Publicity prohibits you using the picture of a celebrity without authorization on your merchandise.

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Right of Privacy

What is the Right of Privacy?
Generally, individuals have a "right of privacy." An invasion of this right can occur in four ways:

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Defamation

What is defamation?
Defamation occurs when:

A false and damaging statement of fact; concerning an individual or entity; is communicated to a person or persons other than the individual or entity whom the false or damaging fact is about (i.e., published); and the person publishing such information knew or should have known it to be false.

In this circumstance, "published" means that such statement was written or verbally communicated to another. Written defamation is also known as "libel." Verbal defamation is also known as "slander."

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Examples of Prohibited Content

In accordance with intellectual property laws, CafePress has certain rules regarding the types of merchandise that you can make and sell through its service. For example:

Frequently Asked Questions

Does CafePress own the rights to my content?
No, you retain all rights to your content, but grant a non-exclusive license to CafePress to allow CafePress to print and ship your products to your customers. For more information on the license you grant to CafePress please review the Terms of Service and Shopkeeper Agreement.

If it does not have a copyright notice, is it ok to use?
Almost all works are protected by copyright, even if they do not have a copyright notice. Therefore, you should assume that you need to obtain permission to use any material that you did not create.

If I do not mark up the selling price of my products, is it still infringement?
If a product is not marked up from its base price, that sale can still be considered an infringement, even if you are buying the product yourself. Merely posting an image in your shop, whether or not it is on products, may be considered an infringing use of the image.

Is it ok to use an image I found on the Internet?
Simply because an image is found on the Internet does not mean that it is in the public domain or available for commercial use on merchandise. You should assume that you cannot use the work unless the author of the work has explicitly granted you a license to use the work or it is in the public domain. Further, a person who posts an image on the Internet and claims that you are free to use it may not have had the right to post the image in the first place. Thus, your use of the image may violate the rights of the actual copyright owner.

Is it Fair Use?
Usually not, fair use of a work for merchandise is treated very differently than for use for informative purposes or for commentary. In general, a claim of fair use of a work when it is used on merchandise may not hold up in court, especially if the merchandise is sold for profit.

If I took a photograph of a celebrity or a company logo can I use it to make merchandise?
Probably not, simply taking a photo of a person, company, brand, or logo does not afford you the right to sell merchandise featuring that photograph. There are two distinct intellectual property rights in a photograph: (1) the rights in the photograph itself and (2) the rights in the subject of the photograph, such as the product or person shown in it. For example, if you take a photograph of a Madonna, you only own the rights to the photograph, but not the right to use the photo to create and sell Madonna merchandise. In order to sell merchandise with the photograph, you will need to obtain explicit permission from the celebrity.

Do I have to obtain a copyright registration for my creative work?
No, but there are advantages to registering your copyrights. Current copyright law does not require you to register a creative work in order to hold a valid copyright for that work. However, a registration maybe required before you can file a lawsuit for copyright infringement. In addition, if you register your work within 5 years after the initial release of the work, you will have stronger evidence of the validity of the copyright. Essentially, that means that it will be easier to prove that you own the copyright in the work.

I based my artwork on the artwork of a third party, is that ok?
It depends. Artwork derived from the previous work of another may violate the rights of the owner of the previous work. If you are creating a design that is based on the work of someone else, you may need to obtain permission from the original creator prior to creating your own work. You should consult with an attorney before using works based on the work of another through the CafePress Service.

It's parody, is it ok?
Parody is one form of fair use (please see "What is Fair Use"). Parody may qualify as fair use only if it draws upon the original composition to make humorous or ironic commentary about that same composition. Whether something falls within the fair use parody exception depends on whether the parody reasonably could be perceived as commenting on the original or criticizing it, to some degree. Generally parody, like fair use, is a difficult and murky concept, even for experts, and you should consult with an attorney before using copyrighted or trademark material in connection with the CafePress Service.

I am using Clip Art, is it ok?
Most clip art, photo collections, or graphic programs contain a license agreement. The license agreement sets forth the specific permissible uses for the clip art. In most instances the license does not grant you the right to use the clip art for the sale of merchandise. You should consult the license agreement and your attorney to determine whether you can use the clip art images on CafePress.

The First Amendment protects my freedom of speech, so I can use whatever images I want.
Freedom of speech is a constitutional protection that guarantees that the government will not oppress your right to self-expression.

Why can I sell merchandise with images of political figures, but not celebrities?
There is an exception to the right of publicity for political figures, which does not extend to celebrities.

Is CafePress a publisher?
No, CafePress provides a service that allows its users to self-publish their own manuscripts.

Do I need a lawyer to register a copyright?
Not really, to register the copyright for a work, you may file an application with the United States Copyright Office. The application must include copies of the work and the appropriate filing fee. For more information, you can access the Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov.

Can I include nude images in my book?
Maybe, it is impossible to provide a definite answer to this question, since "nude images" can consist of some of the most famous works of art ever created, or content that is obscene, pornographic, or even illegal. CafePress prohibits the latter and permits the former. However, a substantial amount of material falls somewhere between the two extremes. When this happens, CafePress must exercise its discretion on a case-by-case basis.

Can I use third party quotes, artwork, or other material in my book?
Maybe, the copyright principle of "fair use" (described above) permits the use of limited amounts of the copyrighted works of others under certain circumstances. Fair use is an extremely difficult concept, which is hard even for experienced attorneys to apply. The CafePress Terms of Service and Shopkeeper Agreement provide that you are responsible for any content that you use in connection with the CafePress Service. Therefore, you should not use any third-party material unless you have permission to do so, or have consulted with an attorney to verify that your use of third-party material is permissible.

Can I use the CafePress Service to publish a book about another person or a famous person?
Maybe, in merchandising, the use of another person's name or likeness is rarely, if ever, permitted. However, the First Amendment may give you a right to publish a book about another person, particularly if that person is famous or involved in a newsworthy event. But, this right is limited. For example, you cannot defame another person or invade their right of privacy. Similarly, the First Amendment does not allow you to publish false or misleading information about a celebrity or use that celebrity's name or likeness to sell products. The limits to the First Amendment are hard to define, even for experts. Therefore, you should obtain permission from any person about whom you write a book about or consult with an attorney to make sure that you are not violating that person's rights.

Can I publish a compilation of other authors' work if I give the authors' credit?
No, each person's work is a separate work, protected by copyright. Each person retains the rights to their work unless they grant you a license. Even if you give the other author credit, copyright law does not give you the right to use their work in a compilation unless you obtain their permission. Therefore, you should not use any third-party material unless you have permission to do so, or have consulted with an attorney to verify that your use of third-party material is permissible.

Can I publish a work if it is in the public domain?
Maybe, there are limited instances where you may use material which is in the public domain. For example, works that are created before 1922 are generally in the public domain unless otherwise noted. It is important to remember, that if a work which is in public domain, has been changed or altered from its original version, the new work may be protected by copyright.

What is a Song?
A song is a musical composition and consists of lyrics and/or music that can be written down as words (for the lyrics) or musical notes (for the music and for the melody to which the lyrics are sung). The person who writes the song is the songwriter or composer. A song can be performed by many different people many different times. For example the song "Landslide" has been performed by the Dixie Chicks, Smashing Pumpkins, and Fleetwood Mac.

What is a Sound Recording?
A sound recording contains a performance of a song written by a songwriter or composer. The performance brings life to a song that otherwise could only be read as sheet music. A recording captures a one-time event that can never be duplicated in the exact same way. For example, the performance of the song "Landslide" by the Dixie Chicks.

I own the recording rights; do I need permission to use the song?
Yes, a musical recording includes two different types of copyrights, one to the recording and one to the song that is being recorded. Therefore, you must obtain a license from the owner of the song (usually, the songwriter or the songwriter's publisher) in order to record the song on a CD. You will also have to pay "mechanical royalties" to the owner of the song for each CD sold that includes the song.

I am signed with a record company; can I still distribute my music through CafePress?
Maybe, if you are signed with a record company you may need to obtain permission from that company allowing you to distribute your music through the CafePress Service. In most instances the record company will hold the rights to each member of the group. To be sure you are in compliance, please check with your record company prior to using the CafePress Service.

I am recording a cover song; is a license required?
Yes, a cover song is a new recording of a song that another artist has already recorded. This means that you will need a license to use the song, and you will need to pay mechanical royalties to the owner of the song. Certain provisions of the Copyright Act require the owner of a cover song to give you a license (in exchange for payment) as long as you comply with those provisions. This rate must be paid for songs that you cover unless you negotiate a different amount directly with the owner of the song. If you choose to rely on the statutory compulsory license, the Copyright Act contains many other requirements with which it can be difficult to comply. Accordingly, it is usually easier to go directly to the owner and negotiate a license, if that option is available to you.

My recording contains "samples" of other recordings and songs; is a license required?
Yes, if your recording contains samples of other musical recordings you will need to obtain permission to use these samples in your recording.

I am creating a "Compilation" CD is a license required?
Yes, compilations are small parts of several songs or a collection of several songs put onto one CD, and generally requires a license.

Do I need permission from people who helped me record the CD when it was all my idea?
Yes, each person who contributes to a recording may be creating a separate copyrightable work. Each person retains the rights to their contribution unless they grant them to you in a written agreement. All of the contributors to a recording, including performers, producers and mixers, must explicitly consent to your ownership and use of the recording. Even if the recording is your idea, copyright law may not recognize you as the sole author unless you obtain a written agreement from each contributor acknowledging that you own the recording, including. The agreement should also give you the right to use the recording in any format and in any medium you choose. To help ensure that the agreement is enforceable, it is advisable to pay each contributor a fee for their services and their grant of rights to you.

I wrote most of the words and music for my CD do I still need a license?
Most likely yes, the written words and music contained on a CD are treated very similar to a recording. Each person who has contributed to writing the song may have a vested interest in the music. Accordingly, a license which grants you the right to use their work may be required.

I recorded the music at a concert I attended, is it ok to resell the recording?
No, unless you obtain an agreement from everyone who has contributed to the creation of the songs and music and the performance of the music, it cannot be reproduced. Generally, you cannot record concerts without the authorization of the performer. You may also need permission from the venue to bring recording equipment into the concert.

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