Recently was in a clothing store and saw this shirt. Pretty cool, right? Until I realized I had seen the picture before. What’s up with companies stealing fans photos of us in our costumes and using them for merch? This has been brought up millions of times, but is there any way to stop it?
Unfortunately there is no way to stop it. In fact, even the people dressing up could be sued for copyright infringement for dressing up and taking photographs without a license to do so.
Yep. There have been cases of people like Disney who sue people for Mickey Mouse cosplay and misuse of their characters and shit it’s insane, all news to me until recently.
Dressing isn’t the issue per se. It’s making money from it. You can dress as Michael, Spiderman or Darth Vader. But if you charge money or sell unlicensed products, then the lawyers can get involved. So if you buy a licensed costume, but charge to make appearances, or if you make AND sell unlicensed masks, I may become an issue
My wife was on the PoshMark clothing app and one of my buddies on IG was on a shirt selling for $100. They took is watermark off it also. I had that happen a few times to me also before I deleted my Instagram. Now I don’t see any of my pics going around.