Using a football team's logo

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Will7am

  • #1
    Hello there, I'm looking in to print phone covers using Cardiff City FC's logo and colors. I'm not sure if I would need permission from the club to use it since there are so many other products that use it that are not "Official Merchandise".

    Any advise would be helpful, I know the easiest solution would be to phone the club myself but I have a feeling this would be a giant pain :)

    Regards, Will.
     

  • #2
    The logo is trademarked. Phoning them up and realising that you can't afford a licence isn't that much hassle. Having Trading Standards or the police at your door inquiring about counterfeit goods is a bit more hassle. The fine will knock a few pounds off your one million pounds target.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #3
    Agree with the above and a phone cover with the gameboy replica will have the same results. The local phone shops won't touch it and using ebay or amazon may well result in a ban as well if you get reported.
     
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    Will7am

  • #4
    Thanks for the help, as discouraging as it was :) I'm not arguing your points, but I've seen many Man U / Liverpool etc phone cases for sale by local traders on my high street, I'm going to assume they don't have a license :S

    fisicx : Lucky for me only one or two out of the ten I ordered could be considered trademarked, also many places sell Hello Kitty phone covers, do all these places have permission from the company ? :)

    Regards, Will.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #5
    If it's a legitimate shop then they will be selling licenses goods. Trading standards are pretty hot on this sort of thing and like to investigate. In any case if the local phone shop was buying from you they wouldn't give you much more than you paid for the things.
     
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    Will7am

  • #6
    Yea I've come to realize that the local shops aren't the best place to make a quick buck, but I'm hoping to sell a few to them so I have more money to re-invest. I'm looking to make most of my sales online for now and when I have enough stock behind me I'm going to apply for a license to sell them in the high street from a stand, I think that's the best chance I have of selling them at £9.99 :) My Cardiff City FC cases idea would have been great little earner, with around 20,000 fans going to home games every other week, but i knew I would have problems with licensing and trademarks etc :)

    Thanks for your help though, someone had to break the bad news to me lol :D
     
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    Esk247

  • #7
    Will7am said:
    Y My Cardiff City FC cases idea would have been great little earner, with around 20,000 fans going to home games every other week, D
    Click to expand...

    how many of the 20,000 have an iPhone?

    how many would want to buy another case at £9.99?

    substantially less than 20,000 i would have thought, they're cardiff city supporters after all :eek:

    there is also a serious amount of competition in this sector, cheap to import, cheap to store etc.
     
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    Will7am

  • #8
    I would say around 1/10 have an iphone or have a family member who might want one :) Also, you ask how many would buy one for £9.99 ? Clearly you haven't looked at the competition, most phone shops charge between £7.99 - £12.99 with Tesco charging up to £19.99.

    As for "serious amount of competition", as I have designed the case myself and it looking better than any other similar one I've seen and the fact there might be a max of 2 - 3 people selling CCFC merchandise I'm going to say it won't be a problem.

    Thanks for your snide comments, next time keep them to yourself please.

    Regards, Will.
     
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    Esk247

  • #9
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    Will7am

  • #11
    Thanks for the links, the one that's £3 is for a basic default case, not a custom one which is what I want to sell :)

    As for the rest, you can see that the retail price for the cases is from £4.99 to £19.99, and since I'm able to source them for under £1 I think it's a good return, don't you think ? :)

    Regards, Will.
     
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    Will7am

  • #13
    lol wicked idea :) I would ask the mrs but I don't think she'd go for it, kinda wouldn't want to see her on lads phones when I go to the game lol :D

    I like the character idea though, but I'm sure Cardiff City FC's mascot "Bartley the Bluebird" is copyrighted, I'm going to find someone to from the club to email and ask what the deal with the trademarking is :)

    Regards, Will.
     
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