It is their job to follow up with the reported item as they see fit. We will comment on the post that it is an unauthorized use of our art and then we will send that link to the team at GDP that handles infringements. What do we do when we find people using our art? No, we do not, and have never sent cease and desist letters. This is a routine part of managing a license, especially one as valuable as Grateful Dead. If they find products that infringe on their trademarks, they will send a takedown notice to the marketplace and/or a cease and desist letter to the seller. They are now doing weekly sweeps of Etsy, Ebay, Amazon and other seller marketplaces. Why does it seem like a lot of unlicensed vendors are getting shut down this year?īecause Rhino Entertainment, the entity that manages Grateful Dead Productions, recently stepped up their efforts to minimize infringements on Grateful Dead’s intellectual property. We have never reported an Etsy seller, handmade crafter nor any lot vendors. It is the law in place to protect a brand against exactly this scenario. For that reason, intellectual property law exists. You might even think it was us who made that item, and you might penalize our reputation for having made a shoddy good we in fact did not make. If you actually receive a shirt you order through such a website (many never ship at all), you will be disappointed by the quality. They build shell websites with no contact info and promote their knockoff products through Instagram and Facebook ads using mocked up images of our art on various t shirts. Most of the people we’ve reported have been fly by night on demand printers. Not only do we pay royalties quarterly, we are under contract to pay significant minimum royalties annually, and anyone using our art for profit directly effects our ability to do so. In addition to the time put in to creating the artwork in the first place, we have also paid Grateful Dead for the right to reproduce it.
![grateful dead dancing bear copyright grateful dead dancing bear copyright](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0c/ab/89/0cab895b828fb5d7facf2555615f6d62.jpg)
Why does it matter if people use our Grateful Dead art?īesides the fact that is our livelihood, it is also an asset in which we are heavily invested. The members of Grateful Dead have both the right and the privilege to protect their legacy and pass it down to their progeny. These royalties in turn pay overhead on band management and provide a steady income to band members and their families meanwhile continuing to release vault recordings for you. Grateful Dead is what’s referred to as an “evergreen property." In licensing terms, that means it never goes out of style and licensors can expect to collect royalties from licensees well in to the future. Why does it matter if Grateful Dead maintains licensing? Without legal lines and intellectual property law, the whole system breaks down. If they do not enforce their copyrights and trademarks, they can not charge licensees for the use of their name, likeness, and logo. It is their responsibility to protect the artwork and the products on which it’s printed against unauthorized use and/or reproduction. This legal line indicates the artwork is property of Grateful Dead Productions. It is the copyright and/or trademark notice found in small print in our artwork. Every piece of art we produce goes through Grateful Dead Productions for approval, and that approval process includes adding their legal line to our artwork and the products on which we print it. Grateful Dead provides us the right to use their logos in our artwork in exchange for paying them royalties. How can we call it our artwork if it includes Grateful Dead logos?īecause that is how licensing works. Please note, Little Hippie has been in business since 2002 and licensed with Grateful Dead since 2004, so not all of our art is currently on either site. If another artists creates work for Little Hippie, we offer that artist the same commitment to protecting their work against copying as we do Taylor’s. You can also look through the pages here at Little Hippie where you’ll find more of Taylor’s artwork plus artwork created by and in collaboration with her friends. If you’re unsure what Grateful Dead art is ours, you can find a lot of it in Taylor’s portfolio at. We do not consider the original Grateful Dead icons our art nor do we take any part in protecting the original icons against infringement. What do we consider our Grateful Dead art?Īnytime we build on a Grateful Dead icon, create an illustration from or incorporate icons, or put our own take on an icon, that is our artwork. We probably didn’t even notice you in the first place. If you use our art, we will report you.Who do we report to Grateful Dead Productions for copyright infringements? When a party uses the intellectual property of another party without permission and/or compensation. What is an intellectual property infringement?