What we will not print

Almost everything below comes down to the same thing: a mark, an image, a character or a face usually belongs to someone, and being a customer, a fan, a parent or a local club does not transfer that ownership. If you hold a licence, send it to us and we will run the job.

A logo belongs to the company that owns it. Printing one without written permission from that company is trademark infringement, whether it is on one shirt or five hundred.

Examples we refuse:

• Sportswear, footwear and streetwear brand marks
• Car manufacturer badges and model wordmarks
• Technology company logos and product marks
• Food, drink and retail chain identities
• Any wordmark, monogram or symbol registered to a business you do not own or represent

Professional clubs, leagues, universities and school districts all license their marks. Being a fan, a student, a parent or a local supporters' club does not carry a licence with it.

Examples we refuse:

• Professional and semi-professional club crests
• League and governing body identities
• University seals, athletic marks and mascots
• School district crests and academy badges
• Military insignia, unit patches and government seals

Characters are protected by copyright, usually for decades. A redrawn, traced or stylised version of a protected character is still a derivative work and still infringes.

Examples we refuse:

• Animated film and television characters
• Comic book and graphic novel characters
• Video game characters, weapons and interface art
• Anime and manga characters
• Recognisable vehicles, props and creatures from a film or series

Musicians, actors, athletes and public figures hold rights over the commercial use of their name, image and signature. Those rights survive in many states after death.

Examples we refuse:

• Photographs or drawings of a recognisable person
• A performer's or athlete's name used as the design
• Reproduced signatures and autographs
• Memorial artwork using a public figure's likeness
• Photographs of private individuals who have not consented

An image found through a search engine is not licensed to you. Nor is a font downloaded from a free site whose licence excludes commercial use. Both sit with their creator until a licence says otherwise.

Examples we refuse:

• Stock photography used without a licence covering merchandise
• Illustrations, prints and paintings by another artist
• Album artwork, book covers and poster designs
• Fonts whose licence does not cover printed goods for resale
• Artificial-intelligence output built from a named living artist's work

Reproducing banknotes, passports, licences, official seals and law enforcement badges is separately regulated and is refused regardless of how the artwork is styled.

Examples we refuse:

• Banknotes and coins, in whole or in part
• Passports, driving licences and identity cards
• Police, fire and emergency service badges
• Government department seals and certification marks
• Postage stamps and revenue stamps

We refuse artwork that attacks people for who they are, threatens violence, or is sexually explicit. This is a judgement we make, and we make it conservatively.

Examples we refuse:

• Symbols associated with hate movements
• Slurs and dehumanising language aimed at any group
• Threats of violence against a person, a place or a group
• Sexually explicit imagery
• Artwork promoting self-harm or glorifying an atrocity

On garments sized for children twelve and under, we will not print a personal name alongside a phone number, address, email or social handle. A single first name, or a squad number, is fine.

Examples we refuse:

• A child's full name printed with a mobile number
• A name printed with a home or school address
• A name printed with an email address or social handle

There are three parts to this, and the middle one is the part that matters.

1. Rules published before you configure. Every category above is listed here, restated on the upload step, and linked from the checkout page. Nothing about what we will not print is discovered after payment.
2. A person looks at every file. No order reaches production on an automated check alone. A reviewer opens each file, compares it against the categories above, and either approves it or rejects it with a written reason. Automated checks only flag files for that reviewer; they never approve anything.
3. A working route for rights holders. If you own a right and believe we have printed against it, our copyright agent is named and contactable, with a written notice, counter-notice and restoration procedure, and a policy of terminating repeat infringers.

The review state on an order moves through exactly three values: pending, then either approved or rejected with a written reason. A job with a status of pending cannot enter the production queue. That is enforced in the system, not by habit.

Reviewers work to the categories on this page and to a fixed set of reasons, so two different reviewers reach the same answer on the same file. Where a file is close to a line, it goes to a second reviewer rather than through.

You get an email with the specific reason, quoting the category above. From there you can send different artwork and keep the order open, or cancel and take a full refund including any setup charge, because nothing has been produced.

We do not keep money for a job we refused to print. If we do not hear from you within 14 days we cancel and refund automatically. This is set out in full on the returns page.

We keep a record of rejections against the ordering account. An account that repeatedly submits artwork infringing third-party rights is closed, and we decline further orders from it. That policy is stated again on the copyright and DMCA page, which is where a rights holder would raise a complaint with us.

Plenty of artwork sits in a grey area: a reference rather than a copy, a parody, a design inspired by a style rather than lifted from a work, an old image that may or may not have fallen into the public domain.

We are a print shop, not a law firm, and we do not give legal advice on whether your particular design infringes. Where we are unsure, we decline and refund, because that is the outcome that costs you the least. If you have documentation showing you are entitled to use the work, send it and we will look again.

Ask before you configure a job if you want to check something: support@designbyuapparel.shop or +1 818 383 0239.