Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Howdy! I wrote this in the facebook Lightfoot fan club site in a " you know you're a lightfoot fanatic when...." thread, and thought the t-shirts were interesting. I'm still trying to decide if they are infringing on his rights (not to mention his no t-shirts wishes), but none of them say "Gordon Lightfoot". Some do say "Summer Time Dream" - seperate words, but they come up when you query Gordon Lightfoot under t-shirts. Gold bars that say "100% pure GORD", and "Canada's finest export". Pretty clever. I've been toying with ordering one of these for a year or two, but I've been being too much of a boy scout in wondering if these products would piss him off.

ANYWAY, here is what I posted, with the link at the bottom: "You scour music T-shirt sites for anything Lightfoot - knowing you'll find nothing, as Gordon has said time and again he does not want to exploit US, his fans. This is one thoughtful man. Exploit us? Most performers MIGHT be worried, if at all, about being exploited themselves. Not Lightfoot. "What a guy" Oh - AND THEN, in giving up on finding a Lightfoot t-shirt, you go to a site like cafe press, and check-out the price of making a custom "YOU DESIGN IT" T-shirt, that just says "Lightfoot rules" or something. Respecting proprietary rights makes you wince at the thought, and you eschew the notion. But you think again about it. THEN you start thinking of interesting ways to get "Lightfoot" legitimately on a shirt. You go to genealogical T-shirt sites (i.e.the clan Dunbar, in my case, etc.), find the Lightfoot family name, and think about ordering that. I will TELL YOU ALL THIS DISCOVERY ON Lightfoot T-SHIRTS: Cafepress.com does have some interesting ways to get parts of Gordon Lightfoot on a t-shirt, golf-shirt, or hat/sweatshirt,etc. You query "Gordon Lightfoot" in clothing, andthey have gold shirts etc that say "Canada's finest export" - with gold bars that say "100% pure Gord", (ostensibly for Gord's Gold?), and also this in that comes precariously close to busting copywrite, but does not,by not actually referencing the song title. ALso under the query results for "Lightfoot clothing" are shirts saying (for the ladies) "I know who MY Summertime Dream is" - it doesn't get any closer than that w/o blatantly saying the album name. They do also offer the family name "Lightfoot" on clothing,hats,student'sbook bags,etc. - here is a link to the Lightfoot sample query results - (and there are more pages by different queries) -check out the "100% pure Gord" on the bar of gold image t-shirt!" : http://www.cafepress.com/+lightfoot+gifts

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Have fun with it. If Bidini and publishers can put his name on a book with his image and make money, then fans making Tshirts must be ok. Gord is likely always pissed off about something so might as well give him a reason:)

I had one in 2004 with his return to touring where I put on the back of the shirt "Gord's Back"

Of course I wanted him to wear it but I'm not proactive enough to nudge my way into the backstage schmooze. I was gonna send it to EMP but then Gord did something to piss me off. Lol. So it's now just a footnote

Hardly original

I think Gord should merchandise Polka dot underwear

Boxers or briefs?

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Actually if you have a computer & a printer you can make your own. Walmart sells fabric sheets you use with an inkjet printer and then sew onto a T shirt. It works well for a child but would probably look tacky on an adult - I would be more inclined to make a unique "Lightfoot Fan" shoulder patch, or a neat tote bag.


I asked a lawyer friend about copyright infringement when I started making my kids T shirts promoting their favorite books. I was told that yes, it was copyright infringement but as long as I was not making money off my projects, it was very unlikely anyone would object to free publicity.

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Yes, we're guilty of making these T-shirts. We did them out of admiration for Gordon, wore them to his concert to support him, because it was his 50th Anniversary in Music. Gordon and Rick saw them and loved them and said they were nice shirts. We are not planning to make a profit on these, but we want to keep them to remind us of the wonderful night we had @ his 50th Anniversary concert.

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Cool shirts Khester! I was picturing that the 50th Anniversary Carefree Highways Tour would make a great t-shirt. Excellent! How do I get one? Or are you saying you had them made for you and friends, etc.? bottom line - do I need to have mine made, - or can I buy this one? Very cool!:headbang::cool:

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Moose, regarding:

You guys have convinced me that I would not be breaking a "corfid code of Gord honor" (I just coined that term - marcus registradus my gluteus maximus TM 2013 )

I'm definately going to make, have made, or buy a cafepress sneaky-around-the-edges-of-copywrite pre-made t-shirt,or all 3,LOL. Thanks!

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

We had them made for us at a local print shop.
We downloaded poster from Wayne Francis site then added the venue, city and date text using google's Picassa . We then saved the image as an 8X10 image.
After that we put the image on a usb drive and took it to a local printer who does t-shirts. We actually got a good deal we provided the t-shirts and the printing cost was
$8.95 for the first and $7.95 for the 2nd.

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

I printed it off as a 2 1/2 x 4 print on 4 x 6 photo paper and will ask all the guys to sign it..suitable for framing..I hope I remember...lol
;)

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

I guess I got something started didn't I?

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Very clever, Khester. Char- I hope you remember to get their autographs! Great ideas! Any reservations I had about copywrite infrigement have been "hammered into dust", so I 'spect "I'll Tag Along" on getting a t-shirt made, even better than buying a cafepress infringement-avoidance pre-made shirt.

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

I commented last fall when we first saw the poster. It would have been nice to have the venues give out the poster with the preprinted signatures of Gordon and the band. The printing cost for a large quantity would have been very reasonable and could have been included with the ticket price. Everyone would have loved it as a memento of a wonderful evening.

Re: Lightfoot shirts w/o copywrite infringement
 

Char,
Are you running out of wall space also?
With the venue poster from Tuesday. We now have 5 framed and signed Lightfoot venue posters including one that he personalized to us at the concert that He dedicated "Beautiful" to us. "To Kevin and Erin, Love, Gordon Lightfoot"