I know that if designs have images, slogans etc on them that are copyright then they will be CUP'ed and removed, but how do CP determine this?

Do they go by the filename, the tags etc?

The reason I ask is I just did a search for Lebowski (as in the film the Big Lebowski) to see what was available and I got zero (mark it!) search results back.

Is this because CP have Lebowski as one of their flagged words and thus designs using that tag are not allowed?

There's plenty of Big Lebowski designs on CP, just none with a Lebowski tag.

It's the same for Dr Who, plenty of Dr Who designs, none show up with a search of Dr Who (or Doctor Who)....

Thanks!

Cafepress keep the details of their usage oversight confidential. It's partially a form of trade-secret but also to reduce insight into ways of circumventing the system (ie. keep details from those who might try to infringe).

However, it's not hard to surmise that a variety of things are brought to bear: filenames, tags, text descriptions, titles, super-secret Matrix-like search systems within CP, human beings scanning for obvious infractions, monkeys, etc.

As a general reminder, a search in the marketplace or what you see in a store aren't indications to be taken either way. One never knows if a shop is infringing, has permission, is in a grey-area, or not... solely based on what we see because the nature of CafePress is that uploads-to-products happen almost instantly. Since there's no approval process - infractions happen until noticed by CP or a report by a shopkeeper, shopper, or other third-person.

With all these factors it's hard to be certain why "Lebowski" returned no results. It could be as you described. I suppose it's possible there's actually a design on this planet NOT on CafePress... but that's probably unlikely.

It certainly could be an effort to control the marketplace-potential for infractions... something CP has to be diligent about in its own way, above and beyond individual shops.

I think after a certain amount of "trouble" certain search terms just get "struck". So, no search of that term turns up results. (For example, "spiderman" turns up nothing. But, say... "wall crawler" turns up a bunch of spidey related designs!) This keeps SK's from using someone else's trademark to sell items. And, (whether this is on purpose or not I can only guess) it also keeps the IP owner from being able to easily search to see if they are being infringed upon - just in case CUP staff miss a design or two.