happy black panther weekend it is a
national holiday as far as I'm concerned
and I had to do a Q&A with legal babe
special edition specifically for Black
Panther so today's Q&A with Nicole Bay
is can I create Black Panther gear and
sell it in my online shop you know
hashtag for the culture so here's the
skinny on this pretty much it can be
very difficult to do this I know you
want to create Black Panther gear you
may even want to use some of the
trademark names that may be owned by
Marvel such as what Conda which they
thought a trademark for what kind of for
not only the online online comic books
suiting at the online comic books but
comic books and also toys but there also
have some trademarks and filed for the
actual name Black Panther as well so
before you run and create this amazing
gear which some of you already have
there are some things that you got to
keep in mind so you want to make sure
that you are not directly infringing on
the intellectual property of Marvel this
could be their trademarks their
copyrights or anything of that nature
because you don't want to get yourself
in hot water now creating products they
may be inspired by the movie that might
be completely fine but crossing the line
is if you're using like the name or
image or likeness of a character of any
of the actors of even the SIRT the
symbolism such as the black panther suit
having those things on your items to
land you in hot water a lot of people
gave some pushback on this because they
say well attorney davis some of these
items are not trademarked however
sometimes when it comes to movies and
things and books there can be some
intellectual property rights attached to
fictional characters but there's another
legal test that has to be applied if
this character has been so fully
described and developed that they are
essential to the plot line and story
and that fictional character actually
can be protected by intellectual
property law and so some claims or some
infringement that can occur can not only
be on the trademark and copyright front
but also unfair competition which could
lead to arguments of misrepresentation
or false sponsorship or misappropriation
so you want to make sure that your
products are not so close to the movie
that someone can think you have maybe an
official endorsement of Ison's from
Marvel itself now you just have to be
super careful I know that people are
gonna get their coins they're gonna do
things they're gonna do things not only
for selling those items and stuff for
their culture like I said and just in
celebration of this amazing movie but
make sure that you protect your smart
make sure you don't violate anyone
else's smarts and enjoy the festivities
enjoy everything that is surrounding
this great momentous occasion and have a
great time but make sure that you are
making sure your brand and your business
is protected if you have any questions
if you need some clarifying points to be
made about some of the things that I
brought up in the video let me know it
is not a cut and dry a lot of times
whether you can sell something in a shop
will be really a case-by-case analysis
and basis so just note that this is not
like a one-size-fits-all answer so you
might be able to sell one thing that's
completely fine that's inspired by the
movie or inspired by the characters
where another item could be directly
infringing so you just want to make sure
that you watch the steps you know what
you're doing and we saw this a lot of
times in a one example I can think of is
Netflix they sent a cease and desist
letter to a company that basically
created a pop-up shop based off of a
stranger things a restaurant that was
depicted in the series called Logan's
place I think and so even though Netflix
I don't believe that they had Logan's
place trademarked or even they had a
restaurant called Logan's place they
knew that this was an infringement of
their intellectual property because the
pop-up shop was for stranger things too
or strange of things people so you just
want to make sure that if you're going
to go all out for Black Panther and
create amazing products that you are not
infringing on Marvel's intellectual
property so happy Black Panther weekend
I had to do this special Q&A with legal
Bay so it's just this issue so that I
can help you guys out so I'm happy to be
sharing this clarifying information and
I hope this helps let me know if you
have any questions and I'll chat with
you soon bye