My Cthulhu designs were all pended, and this is confusing me because I've seen other items in the marketplace with images of Cthulhu and even that famous quote in their language. Is use of the Cthulhu image or name ok?

Did you ever see a car that was driving faster than the speed limit? Ever see a car parked at an expired meter? Just because you see something happen against the rules does not mean it is OK.
http://forums.cafepress.com/ev...f/504104/m/529108813

As for your situation - who knows - it could be the images, it could be the tags, it could be the title, it could be something is a trademark infringement - you will have to ask the content useage team.

To the best of my knowledge, Lovecraft's work is in the public domain, pending the outcome of a lawsuit that's been going on for decades. This does not necessarily mean that the entire "expanded Mythos" is public domain; the works of Clark Ashton Smith, Henry Kuttner, etc. are most likely still copyrighted. Of course, don't take my word as gospel on any of this. Do the research yourself...I could be completely wrong.

Lovecraft's work may or may not be public domain. However that does not stop someone from trademarking aspects related to the movie by that name. The degree of legal risk for the images in question depends not just on their copyright status but whether the marketing efforts involve more recent intellectual property rights. Copyright status alone is not a sufficient inquiry. Trademark should always be a consideration.

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Originally posted by Tanith:
Lovecraft's work may or may not be public domain. However that does not stop someone from trademarking aspects related to the movie by that name. The degree of legal risk for the images in question depends not just on their copyright status but whether the marketing efforts involve more recent intellectual property rights. Copyright status alone is not a sufficient inquiry. Trademark should always be a consideration.

Well, I emailed cafepress about the problem and they reviewed the design, and found that it currently violated no trademarks or copyrights. My design and products have been reinstated and I am a happy camper.

Also, for one of the other posters here, I do know that there are people who get away with minor traffic violations and the like. My main beef was that from my knowledge, I was drawing a public domain character, one as free to use as Santa Clause.

A side note: I've heard that recently Popeye has become a public domain character in the UK. Can't wait until he's become public domain in the US as well, in 2024. Olive Oyl I think is already public domain or at least on the verge of becoming so since she was created about two decades before Popeye was. It'll be interesting to see all these old cartoon characters on t-shirts and other merchandise as public domain art.

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Originally posted by DaCapo Walworth:
I was drawing a public domain character, one as free to use as Santa Clause.

While Santa Claus is a PD character, certain versions of him aren't.
For example, ALL the famous Coca-Cola ads featuring him are NOT Public Domain.

I haven't had any problems with these; in fact, someone picked a shirt up a couple days ago [from the marketplace, of course; damnit].

Lovecraft's stuff is PD. There was some contention from Durleth years ago [he claimed that, after death, Lovecraft visited him as a ghost, or something, and handed him the rights; the courts didn't quite buy that], but even the stuff published after 1923 [I think that's the magic date for copyrights] never had its copyrights renewed.

That said: I would suspect that things like Call of Cthulhu might be trademarked, since there's some sort of roleplaying game using the title. Other phases might be trademarked since, once something's public, it's open to be trademarked for specific uses, provided it can be shown to be a brand—Olympics comes to mind.

Glancing at the TESS, it looks like 'CALL OF CTHULHU' is the only live trademark including the word Cthulhu. So, if the phrase was Cthulhu fhtagn [probably the most wellknown phrase], I'd assume you'd be safe.

Which I guess we knew, if they reinstated the design. Did they explain redbacking it, beyond 'oops'?

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That said: I would suspect that things like Call of Cthulhu might be trademarked, since there's some sort of roleplaying game using the title. Other phases might be trademarked since, once something's public, it's open to be trademarked for specific uses, provided it can be shown to be a brand—Olympics comes to mind.

Except when the IOC goes after anyone and everyone using "olympic" in their names or titles including restaurants and other (usually Greek-American owned) businesses!