Expert: John Varghese - 5/2/2010

Question
I want to send a celebrity a t-shirt that has his name and phrase (copyright) on it. I am not selling it, I just want to send that one t-shirt as a gift.  Will I get in any legal trouble for doing this?

Thank you

Answer
Dear Lynnsie,

So long as the celebrity appreciates this gesture, there would not be any problem. However it would be better if you remember that though theoretically intellectual property rights, deals with the commercial use of the materials protected by the rights, many a times the drawing line between commercial use and other use is so porous that many uses which we in normal parlance thinks altruistic have been identified to have commercial value.Eg: Use of the name of a celebrity by an NGO for charity purposes, may also be considered as commercial use. In many cases, any use by unauthorised persons will be considered as improper use.More over so long as the use of the name of the celebrities are concerned, if there is any defamatory material, or an apparently defamatory material, they can also sue for defamation. However there is a universally accepted principle of fair use, which states that IPR's can be put to non commercial fair use, without violating any law.
Hence it would be better to place a letter also along with your T-shirt, mentioning that the name and phrase will not be used at any other place, and the same is being send to him as a gift, and would not be used commercially.

Regards

John Varghese