PxR Merchandise?

[Chakramaster]

Actually, you're a name that has popped up a lot in the sporadic conversations that have taken place about this idea. Mostly because of your hand in designing the site and its logo. You're probably the most technically sound designer this board has. I haven't been around recently, so I don't know if any of the other artists are as educated as you are. My first idea, actually, was to put the PxR logo that you designed for the front page, and basically the whole website, on a T-Shirt, and see how that one concept went. As it stands that one T-Shirt could sell enough to invest in some promotional advertising, which could potentially bring more people to PxR in general, as well as more potential sales and support to the merchandise and website as a whole.

It's basically up to @HKim to see where he wants to go with it. I'd be all for helping put it all together, I would just need to acquire permissions to use various artworks, because a lawsuit is definitely something I'm looking to avoid. xD

Well it's not just that. They've been hitting the copyright edge a lot harder lately too. So almost anything similar would have to be taken with extra caution. Even something similar would need to be looked at carefully. So when anything does get designed it doesn't flat out say "Pokemon" of course.

[XaiakuX]

That should be fine, as long as the artwork is our own. Just no text that sits on copyright infringement, basically. But who needs text, anyway, when you have pretty imagery. xD The logo will be fine, as well. Think about it, there are a LOT of games out there similar to Pokemon (I'm referring to apps) and they have more of a chance to be sued than we are.

I have actually seen a fair few t-shirt designs with Pokemon related text on them, but I do suggest we try and avoid that route. Copyright is a very touchy subject. I learned in art that 'appropriation' is fine, although the subject has to be changed enough that it avoids any issues. If we're selling our own art, that's fine. However we can't make a profit by adding trademarked text.

If we were to say, create a Charmander design with the word 'Ember!" on it, though, that would be fair game. The word 'ember' itself isn't trademarked at all - it's just a regular word.

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http://kirawra.deviantart.com/art/Th...nart-212570726

I found that, though. And technically anything making a profit off of fanart is considered illegal. However, it's a really grey area, since a LOT of people actually do it. *shrugs* It's up to Harry if he wants to or not. :3

Well it's not just that. They've been hitting the copyright edge a lot harder lately too. So almost anything similar would have to be taken with extra caution. Even something similar would need to be looked at carefully. So when anything does get designed it doesn't flat out say "Pokemon" of course.

I know this is a double post, but it's my thread. =P

I think we should shy away from "Pokemon" as the initial selling point, and focus more on the "PxR" aspect. Come up with unique designs that say HEY, WE'RE A POKEMON FORUM, but not actually have anything Pokemon related in it. Tough job, I know. But I think the trio logo that Gemma designed would be an acceptable design. I know that completely goes against what I just said, because there's obvious Pokemon related imagery in the logo, but I'm about 99% certain Game Freak or anyone else can't get us for that. The balls don't resemble any actual official Pokeballs, with exceptions to the red one.

Basically we shouldn't come up with something that looks like a charmander, call it a charmander, and try to sell it. However, like Gemma said, if we come up with something that looks VAGUELY like a charmander, call it ember, and try to sell it, we should be okay.

EDIT: Of course I read that thing Gemma posted after I post.

So, here's what I gather, now. If PxR obtains permissions from Game Freak, probably going to cost one time out of pocket, or they get some permanent percentage of profits earned, or something to that effect. But with those permissions we can see a vast majority of Pokemon related merchandise. We would basically be in a very unwanted partnership with Game Freak, so it's really up to @HKim if we wanted to do something like that.

In my opinion, if we want to sell shirts and merchandise, we should keep to our own original works, and not lean towards Pokemon so heavily. But obviously enough to let people know we're a Pokemon Community. So this would be a challenge, but certainly not the toughest anyone has faced on this forum. xD