Cool business idea, but does it involve copyright infringement?

[danstelter]

Hey everyone -

So I got an idea for a business. It would be to create T-shirts with quotes attributed to famous people that they never actually said. The quotes would be funny. It's really just a fun side-business. Not my main one.

So, a shirt would have a quote, and then the person's name.

Any copyright infringement there?

What if that included a picture?

Plus, this might include historical figures that are now long dead. Or it could also include contemporary figures like sports stars.

Can I use their names and pictures without legal permission?

Please show me how US copyright law does or does not apply in this situation. Thanks,

Dan

[Harold Mansfield]

Hey everyone -

So I got an idea for a business. It would be to create T-shirts with quotes attributed to famous people that they never actually said. The quotes would be funny. It's really just a fun side-business. Not my main one.

So, a shirt would have a quote, and then the person's name.

Any copyright infringement there?

What if that included a picture?

Plus, this might include historical figures that are now long dead. Or it could also include contemporary figures like sports stars.

Can I use their names and pictures without legal permission?

Please show me how US copyright law does or does not apply in this situation. Thanks,

Dan

Many historical figures are public domain, which means you can use them. However many personalities ( actors, musicians, captains of industry, sports figures, and so on) are not and you cannot use their name or likeness without permission. You would have to check each individually.
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States (http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm)

[Brian Altenhofel]

Threadless is actually pretty good at summing this up.

https://www.threadless.com/info/parody/