A little encounter with Cafepress

[Seraph]

A while back, I created an account wiith cafepress and started making a couple of SVX related items. Mostly T-Shirts, licence plate cover, clock etc.

Today, I got a message from a member here saying that he can not access the items from the store. After a couple of minutes of looking through the settings, cafepress decided to remove the items saying that I need to get permission from SOA to use the image of MY SVX.

----- This is what she said -----
> Hi Lwin,
>
> Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, without the authorization, I
> cannot restore your images. You may own the car, but Subaru owns the
> actual image of the car. Without their permission, they could pursue
> legal action against you.
>
> Please let me know if you have any additional comments or questions.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Lindsay
> Image Verification



------ So this is what I told her ------
> So what you are saying is the I can not take a picture of my own car
> and sell that picture because SOA/FHI owns the initial design of the car?




------ This is what she replied ------
Hi Lwin,

Yes, unfortunately that is the case. Please refer to the help section of our website for more information.

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/law.aspx

Many shopowners have contacted the automobile companies and obtained permission with little to no trouble.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.




Am I just nuts or are they taking the matter of copy right to the one end of extreme. I think I will just go to my local printer rather than go through them now.

If her logic is right, I guess I can not make the calender, I can not take photos of my own car, I can not mention the name SVX without prior written consent from SOA/FHI/Italdesign.



Lwin