question

I went to the trouble to look into what it would take to aquire approval from Disney to create designs based on Disney characters. I learned that Disney does NOT grant approval, permission, licenses for POD product designers. FYI to Amazon -Any Merch shirt with Disney (or Star Wars) is a violation of Disney's trademarks. There are a ton of designers using Disney characters, font, and Star Wars facimiles on shirts. I've also noticed that many of these same designers are using other trademarked characters / logos / slogans / designs. I'm not Disney, so I can't report these violations, but if Amazon went through and culled out the violators... Amazon can easily check with Disney to see if it's possible for any Merch designer to have approval, and if not, then you've just found an open door to clean up some of the mess before it gets anymore out of hand. That being said -If you've made a shirt using a Disney (or Star Wars) character, it's only a matter of time before you are hit with a cease and desist. Do not even try to claim parody. Parody is a literary term, and rarely, if ever, applies to t shirt designs, and rarely, if ever, stands up in court. My guess is that the majority of shirts using other licensed characters, sports teams, bands, and other known trademarks do NOT have the approval from the trademark owner, however, I do know for a fact that some do, so we can't automatically judge, or even assume. And just because you see others using a trademark doesn't mean that YOU can or should. The only one that I do know about is that Disney doesn't grant licenses to POD designers.