Warning re: Cafepress

[Jared A. Sorensen]

http://www.giveneyestosee.com/say-no-to-cafepress/

I'll be removing my online store tonight.

[Matt Wilson]

That person is misinterpreting the contract.

You aren't handing over your copyright or trademark rights. They have exclusive right to the service . That is, as someone who has a cafepress store you do not have rights to the trademarks of that service.

CafePress.com will solely and exclusively own all intellectual property and other rights, title and interest in and to the CafePress.com Service

And as for your own rights, you as a vendor are merely granting them a right to use your logos on their site.

You hereby grant to CafePress.com a royalty-free, worldwide, nonexclusive, right and license to use the trademarks, trade names, designs, logos and other images

I don't get what all the hysteria is about. It's pretty standard stuff.

[Alan]

I read the source over and I agree with Matt.  "Use" does not include right to sell or transfer copyright.  Although it would be nice if the contract specified that.

If it concerns you, be aware that both sides of any contract can suggest modifications before agreeing to it.  This is common practice in the fiction market where an author may write modifications onto the contract and require the other party to okay it before he agrees.

In terms of an online agreement, you could just email them your suggested changes and ask them to okay them before you agree.  To be more traditional, you can send it by snail-mail - even registered.  The amount of documentation you keep is up to you.

Of course, this won't work with large monolithic companies like Microsoft - they'd just reject your offer and say take it or leave it.  But a smaller company like Cafepress may be more responsive.

[Gordon C. Landis]

For sufficiently low-volume shops, the tax/pricing/minimum changes might be enough to say "goodbye" to CafePress.  But the IP stuff - well, I Am Not A Lawyer and all that, but, as far as I can tell all it says is "you don't get our IP just 'cause you do business with us, and we're allowed to use your IP as part of our doing busines with you (kinda hafta be able to do that - if it was illegal for us to display your logo, we couldn't use it to sell your coffee mug, now could we?)  You stop doing business with us, we have to stop using your IP within 90 days."

So - don't leave over the IP stuff.  If the rest of it bothers you, that could be cause to leave.

Gordon

[Nathan]

The IP thing has me a little troubled -- but my stuff was not selling. The prices were just too high, and I made too little of a profit on anything. I wouldn't suggest anyone using Cafepress unless they are catering to folks who think $16 a t-shirt is a perfect price. I may look at having some EAK shirts printed up locally for cheap. It might be a better deal overall.

Thanks,
Nathan Hill

[Nathan]

Holy Smoly!

Then I see that Cafepress now lets you sell DATA CDs starting at $4.99. Hello?!? Yikes. Well, I figure I will rejoin, but I am going to be a bit more careful about what I put up there. *sigh*

Rock and roll,
Nathan

[samdowning]

I don't know if any of you have looked at the link that was first entered in this forum, but you can see at the bottom of the page that they're rewriting their policy so that customers understand Matt was right - they only get the rights to use your logo for their services, they do not get to take over your IP.

Of course, the thing that cracks me up is that the things that really matter, like the minimums on orders and such like that, got glossed over here.  I haven't sold enough to make any money for 3 years, let alone 180 days.  I obviously have to take my stuff down.

[rpghost]

If you don't mind putting up a little money up front for 2 dozen shirts, we'll get them made (and on black shirts) for you at a reasonable ($8-10) price at RPGMall.com :)

I don't have final numbers as I'm waiting on some licnesed products (Oathbound, Arcana Unearthed , Armageddon, etc) to come in to test the printers.

Just thought you might be interested... Of course, this kind of stuff is usually just a vanity thing and most poeple are just happy if they break even.

James