If Zazzle does not work, try CafePress. I have had pretty good luck getting issues resolved over there with MINI items. No endorsement of either site, just personal experience for personal items.
I have heard back from Zazzle.. I will be looking at other options, Cafe Press already said no for the same reasons above. I will also be contacting MINI USA Legal to discuss. Before anyone gets in a lather about MINI USA lets give them an opportunity to address this please.
Nice try Nate! No good deed will go unpunished. How out rageous and arogant of BMW. :mad5: Maybe each calendar should include 12 little black dots so that people cover up the MINI logo on each monthly photo
Wrote to MINI USA early on Friday hoping to get a response but nothing as of yet. With the LA Auto Show running this week my hopes are now rather slim at hearing from anyone. Still looking at alternatives.
Nathan check with Ohbuga, he might be able to just plug in M/A cars in the present Calender design on the THMMC and change the name....just a thought. PS: Cannot see how BMW would have any legal recourse to someone reproducing pictures of members personal cars on a Calender, especially with the consent of the owners of those cars and pictures.. Don't use the MINI logo anywhere except for where it might show on the cars in the photographs. It is not a "MINI" Calender, it is a Motoring Alliance Calender.
The calendar is officially dead. I've been trading emails with MINIs legal folks and since this site is not a non-profit it cannot produce a calendar with images of MINIs on it. This sentence in one of the exchanges says it all. I'm not going to fight MINI. I am rather disappointed they are taking this view for this site but I guess they have to be even handed to all.
Quote: ...only MINI can use MINI images for commercial purposes since they own the trademark design. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9K4JPtqjGk&feature=related]YouTube - LIFAN 320 El auto perfecto[/ame]
Nathan, it seems like Zazzle won't budge, neither will MINI. For future reading, this is helpful .. particularly this part: "Unlike copyright law, trademark law as such does not restrict the use of a trademark in a photograph. What trademark law does forbid is using a trademark in a way that can cause confusion regarding the affiliation of the trademark owner to the image. If consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that a photograph was sponsored by the trademark owner, then there may be trademark infringement." Basically, if someone saw your calendar, and could be confused as to whether or not it's endorsed by MINI, then you'd have an issue.
The beauty and frustration of our legal system is that this can be argued in many ways depending on ones point of view. Common sense, to me, dictates that if one confuses a group made calendar with an official MINI licensed one when the item clearly states it was created by the third party and not by MINI then well the person has comprehension issues. But alas, we are no longer ruled by common sense and MINI has much deeper pockets than I. I do encourage all the non-profit clubs to create and promote their own calendars, MINI will not go after the non-profits it seems. If you would like to promote your club produced calendar on M/A please go for it.
Well........ If you really wanted a MINI calendar, contact some of those chaps at Minitorque, get it printed in England, where things like this can get done, and shipped back to the US.
If the blokes across the pond print them we will know when to celebrate Hogmanay, Shrove Tuesday, Emmiline Pankhurst Day and Guy Fawkes Night
Seems to me the key words here are "for profit", what if the calendar is "free", with a proper donation to the site? I guess that means Nate would have to stand the costs till they were all bought, but if contributions came up front that would cover the costs, would that work?
About the only way that would work is if all proceeds from the sell of the Calender were donated to a charity (non profit organization ), but that would leave Nathan fronting all the money, going through the trouble of putting it together and getting it printed, then collect the money and ship all the calenders, and then donating the profit when all is said and done. Then he still could be at the mercy of Mini's attorneys ....... whew, a lot to do for nothing....