Well, where to start. So I have been happily creating a series of designs to use in a T-shirt shop online. My designs are my own mostly deriving from my own sketch work or traces of my 3D work, this way I never have to worry about copyright.
I ordered a print for a friend, the design was a cute little penguin in the bottom corner of the shirt, a giant speech bubble was coming from his mouth with the word “DESTROY” in a heavily eroded screenprint-style font.
I received an email from the host and printing firm saying that they can not allow me to sell the design as the word “destroy” is a protected trademark under the European union.
SERIOUSLY! I mean come on, if I’m naming a product as “destroy” fair enough as that's a name I’m wanting to trade under. But to say I can’t sell my own original artwork because it merely contains the word “destroy” in it is ridiculous. Is this real ? I’m utterly speechless.
EDIT: I've had to change it to MUTILATE! Thankfully no one owns that word! GRRRRRR!
