- Report: #1307104
Complaint Review: Cafepress - Internet
Reported By:
Anonymous -
Washington, Dist of Columbia, USA
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Cafepress
Internet, USA
Web:
Cafepress.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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Cafepress cafepress.com Using sacred logo for trivial purposes Internet
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Cafepress.com allows artists to upload designs; however per Given Eyes to See, (http://www.giveneyestosee.com/say-no-to-cafepress/the terms of agreement) their company "changed the policies of your copyright and ownership of the items on their site. They now will claim royalty-free rights to publish and display YOUR items with or without identifying the content as yours" under items 6.1 and 6.2 of the terms of agreement:
6.1 CafePress.com 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 CafePress.com will have the sole and exclusive right to obtain trademark and copyright registrations, patents and other protection therefor, and you will not acquire any right, title or interest therein, under this Agreement or otherwise.
This means that they will use artists logos or designs for their own profit even after the artist terminates their account. In this case an artist, who may not even be a Falun Dafa practitioner, listed merely as "Cafepress user" profile 1636329 (http://www.cafepress.com/profile/1636329) who also has designed or used "Don't Tread on Me" logo, Picasso paintings, and whatnot, is using the Falan Dafa logo, a sacred symbol comparable to the Star of David, and plastering it onto clothing and other items sold at profit. Whether any of it is returned to Falun Dafa is unclear. In the past, I thought about buying stuff from them, but Falun Dafa practitioners generally make their own items and not for profit, whether clothing, mats, books, paintings, music, the only profit is when it is officially sold by FalunDafa.org specialty shops such as Tiantibooks or Shenyun for helping support the enterprise.
Because shops such as Cafepress.com or even Zazzle.com represent a grey area in profit, with only a small percent returned to the artist, and possibly perpetual rights detailed in the terms of agreement, and with only a promise to cease using artist content as soon as reasonably practical upon any termination of agreement, the consumer is not benefiting artist directly. Here, the artist is not even necessarily a FalunDafa practitioner, yet they are using the logo on not just T-shirts, but mugs, tote bag, apron, medallion or necklace, and undergarments. Here is what is shown as related item under T-shirt. See the logo on the thong at the end? That qualifies as offensive and sacrilegious merchandise used for desecrating purposes.
Here is another shot:
Here is the profile of the artist CafePress User http://www.cafepress.com/profile/1636329 whose identity may morph into something else at any time, such being the nature of the internet technologists for big companies like CafePress:
But based on the present user profile, this artist likes to borrow from famous people, like prime minister Netanyahu, or nude figure painters, or southern generals, so there's also this unfavorable bias depending on how you look at it.
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