Trademarks: Straight Outta Shirts and Your Silhouette or Cricut Business

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Today, we are returning to the subject of trademarks, something I talk about on Cutting for Business regularly. During one of my sessions at the All Things Silhouette Conference, attendees asked me about trademark concerns related to selling Straight Outta shirts.

First, if you aren’t familiar with the phrase, it originates from a hip hop group’s (N.W.A.) album that was released in the late 1980’s. Last year (2015) a documentary about N.W.A. by the same name debuted.

The shirts: My legal team advised me that the shirts are parodies and fall under the Fair Use Act. What does this mean? You are able to sell parody shirts using “Straight Outta XYZ”. Wait, not so fast! There are several “Straight Outta” phrase that have been trademarked and are listed below – and a little concern at the end of the list:

• Straight Outta Carrollton
• Straight Outta Country
• Straight Outta Mama
• Straight Outta Scripture
• Straight Outta Boom Town
• Straight Outta Compton
• Straight Outta Breath
• Straight Outta Sin
• Straight Outta Hawkton
• Straight Outta Middle Class
• Straight Outta Detroit
• Straight Outta Lefrak City
• Straight Outta Hopton
• Straight Outta Atlanta
• Straight Outta New York
• Straight Outta Tampa
• Straight Outta Nebraska
• Straight Outta Brooklyn
• Straight Outta Cleveland
• Straight Outta – Now, a trademark registration was filed in the middle of last year. While the USPTO Tess Database lists this as a live trademark, my legal adviser did some digging and it wasn’t actually approved nor was it denied. It is sitting in a “more information state” needed. In the coming months, it may be approved or denied. So, you’ll need to keep an eye it. Honestly, the trend may be over before the trademark gets registered.

And, here is a story on “Straight Outta Kauffman.” It’s worth a read.

As always, do your homework and consult your legal adviser if you are concerned about selling the item. Hope that helps the conference attendees that asked!

Christine Schinagl, Cutting for Business

Since 2015, Christine Schinagl has been helping crafters start and run craft businesses through her blog, Cutting for Business. As a Silhouette and Cricut crafter herself, she has a unique take on what works and what doesn’t work in the craft business world. She also teaches a course on creating digital SVG designs, available at How to Design SVGs.

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