Legalities

[bone*diva]

I'd like to address any legal issues here. Gaylia made a point - that these "ATCs" as they are known might present a legal problem, in that they have always been represented as tradeable or giveable - but not sellable. I am thinking that the term "Trading Cards" represents a very general description of the industry. Any ideas?

[bone*diva]

I meant to say that representing them as "Art Trading Cards" may present a problem. Gaylia suggested calling them simply "Art Cards" - or perhaps "Artist Cards" the problem that I have is that these are not your typical Art cards. They are not business cards, they are not greeting cards - they most definitely are TRADING cards - and I believe we should be able to present them as such.

[studiolr]

Commercial art trading cards are definitely being made already, I don't think we'd be stepping on any toes legally to do so ourselves; however, what I noticed browsing the non sport section is that some of the people used art in the title some did not. If you do a search of an artist like Frazetta or Elvgren in the trading cards section (Frazetta I'm guessing would be in fantasy), they may or may not have art in the title. As far as art trading cards for trading amongst artists, I think those are generally one of a kinds, and while a very wonderful idea as well, I don't see how they could claim a trademark on the name when people have been making commercial art trading cards for many, many years. I'm not a lawyer, maybe we should ask one, but when I did a search of "art" in the trading card section, this is what came up: http://search.ebay.com/art_Other-Non-Sports_W0QQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcop... I probably wouldn't use the nickname ATC since that is very (in my mind) associated with the intended to trade cards though. Lisa R. studioLR

[peraverde]

Here is what I know on this.... Baseball cards were originally called "Trading" Cards because they were meant to be collected and traded by children with their friends AFTER they were sold commercially. so the original intention of the word "trading" was meant as a purpose of the cards after sale. and not an explanation of its original purpose..ie: to be traded not sold. my husband used to be a fanatical baseball card collector. 🙂

[eclectic*arts]

I just checked the box that my Micheal Whelan cards came in (yes, I bought that many of them *the shame*) to see what they called them. They are called "Collector Cards". Since nobody owns the term Artist (or Artist's) Trading Cards, then it should fall under Free Use. But if we want to be careful we could just call them Artist's Collector Cards or something. I don't think it really matters that much from a legal standpoint unless it's been trademarked, and I'm pretty sure it hasn't.

[bone*diva]

I have been thinking that it would be great to form a series of cards together as Ebay artists. Each artist would contribute a piece to this set. I'm wondering about the aspect of an Ebay logo on each card - to establish a special "Ebay series"? Would that be legal? Would we need Ebay's permission to print such?

[eclectic*arts]

I think we'd need permission, but it might not be too hard to get it since it would be free advertising for them after all!

[Anonymous]

I’ve been selling movie comps (basically a detailed drawing done for a movies ad campaign) here on eBay for the last couple of months. Some are pretty simple, other very involved. I’ve probably sold around twenty, and have about twenty more. They’d probably make nice trading cards, the only problem would be I doubt I’d be able to use the name of the film on the card. http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-7/766056/AOD+.jpg http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-7/766056/Trem02.jpg

[meloearth]

IMO we can use whatever name we want. ATC is not a trademark, it's a definition of the product, like the word "collage". No one is going to (or can) harass us for using the expression and it should be changed only on the basis of if we want to come up with an unique name, not b/c of legal issues. I don't think there are any, really. As for using the word eBay or the eBay logo...that is an infringement, for sure. That would need permission, as it is a trademark. I wouldn't even try that one, too much red tape, IMO.

[kerobinsonart]

Trading card is an already a KNOWN term that many people use and will instantly know what we are selling. We won't have to come up w/ a new term and inform everyone what they are. Alot of the advertising work has already been done for us by whoever coined the term. It's like Kleenex....everyone knows what a kleenex is and will refer to a tissue as a keenex even though it's a brand name. Do I Make sense??? 😉