Intellectual Property Policy

Last updated: October 29, 2026

Custom apparel lives right next to other people’s brands. A team shirt might want a team logo; a fan tee might want a famous character; a work crew might want the company emblem. This Intellectual Property Policy explains what Teetopia will and will not print, how we protect trademarks, logos, characters and artwork that belong to others, how rights owners can report a problem, and how we protect our own brand. Copyright notices under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act follow the separate process on our DMCA page.

Intellectual property at a glance

We print your words. Names, nicknames, numbers, dates, your own jokes and your own photos.
We do not print others’ marks without permission. No sports league, team, school, company, band or character logos or artwork unless you own them or have written permission.
Rights owners can report: email support@teetopia.shop, subject “IP Report”.
What happens: we review, remove listings or decline orders where appropriate, and contact the person involved.
Affected customers: unprinted items cancelled with a full refund within 7 days.

1. What intellectual property means here

Intellectual property is the legal protection for creative and brand work. For a custom apparel shop, three kinds matter most:

Types of intellectual property and how they affect custom shirts
Type	What it protects	Shirt example
Trademark	Brand names, logos, slogans and symbols that identify a business or team	A professional team’s crest, a soft drink logo, a university seal
Copyright	Original artwork, illustrations, photos and written works	A cartoon character, a famous photo, an artist’s illustration, song lyrics
Right of publicity	A person’s name and likeness used commercially	A celebrity’s face or signature on a tee

Ordinary words are free to use. “Garcia Family Reunion 2027”, “World’s Okayest Fisherman” (written your own way), “Night Shift Crew” and your kid’s name are all fine. What matters is whether the design copies someone else’s protected logo, artwork, character or identity.

2. What Teetopia will print

Names, nicknames, numbers, dates, places and your own phrases, typed in the order notes box at checkout.
Photos you took yourself, or photos you have permission to use, such as family pictures.
Logos and artwork that you own, for example your own small business logo, or that you have written permission to use, for example a club logo with the club’s approval. Tell us in the order notes and keep the permission handy in case we ask.
Our own Teetopia designs, which we create or license for use on our products.

3. What Teetopia will not print

Logos, crests, wordmarks or uniforms of professional sports leagues and teams, colleges and schools, unless you are authorised by the owner.
Company and product brand logos, slogans and packaging designs you do not own.
Cartoon, film, TV, game, comic and toy characters, or artwork copied from them.
Artwork, illustrations or photos found online that belong to someone else.
Song lyrics, book passages or other protected text beyond very short ordinary phrases.
Celebrity names, faces or signatures used to sell or decorate a product without permission.
Designs that imitate an official product closely enough to confuse people about who made it.

If an order includes something on this list, we will email you before printing. Usually we can suggest an alternative in your own words (“Lake Days Crew” instead of a brand logo, a team name and your number in our own lettering instead of a league crest). If you prefer, we cancel the affected items and refund them in full within 7 days.

4. Job, team and school shirts

Our Job & Team Shirts and Family Shirts collections are built for names and titles, not for other organisations’ logos. A nurse crew can have “Night Shift Crew” and each person’s first name; a teacher can have “Room 12 Rockstars”; a youth team can have its own team name and player numbers. A hospital, school district or employer logo needs that organisation’s written permission. If you have that permission, include a note in the order notes and email us the permission letter with your order number.

5. If an order includes a protected mark

If we notice that an order’s notes or photo include something that looks like another owner’s logo, character or artwork, we will email you before printing rather than guess. We would rather send one extra email than print something that causes you trouble. We may decline or cancel an order that we reasonably believe would infringe someone’s rights, as described in our Terms of Service, and any cancelled unprinted items are refunded in full within 7 days.

Fan and tribute ideas that work

Love a team, a band or a show? You can still make a great shirt without borrowing their marks. A few approaches that keep everyone happy:

Use your own words. “Sunday Is Game Day”, “Section 114 Crew” or “Dad’s Couch Coaching Staff” say a lot without a logo.
Use your own numbers and names. Your last name and your lucky number on the back of a tee or hoodie is classic, and it is yours.
Use colours, not crests. Pick a garment colour that matches your team’s colours and keep the design to your own text.
Use your own photos. A picture of your family at the stadium (that you took) is personal and fine to print.

Place names, events and dates

Ordinary place names and dates are fine: “Nashville 2027”, “Lake Coeur d’Alene Weekend”, “Half Marathon Finisher 2027” written as plain text in your own words. Official event logos, race medals designs and branded tour artwork belong to their organisers, so we print your words, not their artwork.

6. For rights owners: how to report

If you believe a product, image, listing or order connected with teetopia.shop infringes your trademark or other rights, email support@teetopia.shop with the subject “IP Report”, or write to Teetopia, 2964 E Parkriver Dr, Boise, ID 83706, US. Please include:

your name, organisation (if any), postal address, email and phone number;
the right you are relying on, for example the trademark and its registration number and country, or a description of the work;
the URL of the page or a description of the product or order you are concerned about;
a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised by the rights owner, its agent or the law;
a statement that the information in your report is accurate and that you are the rights owner or authorised to act for them;
your physical or electronic signature (a typed full name is fine).

For copyright claims, please use the format on our DMCA page, which includes the statements the law requires.

7. What happens after a report

We acknowledge your report within 24 hours on business days.
We review the report and the material it identifies.
Where appropriate, we remove the listing or image, pause any related unprinted order and decline future orders with the same design.
We contact the person who provided the material and explain what happened. Affected customers receive a full refund within 7 days for any unprinted items we cancel.
If the person believes the report is mistaken, they can reply with their evidence, and we share the response with you where appropriate.

We may close accounts and refuse orders from people who repeatedly ask us to print material that infringes others’ rights.

8. Teetopia’s own intellectual property

The Teetopia name, the t-shirt “T” logo, our page text, product photography and our own design artwork belong to Teetopia or are used under licence. You may share links to our pages, and you may of course wear and show off what you bought. You may not copy our logo, artwork, page text or images to sell products, run a competing store, or suggest that you are connected with Teetopia. If you see someone using our brand or artwork without permission, please tell us at support@teetopia.shop.

9. Your content stays yours

When you send us your words or your photos, you keep ownership of them. You give us only the limited permission we need to print and deliver your order and to provide support. We do not use your names or photos in our advertising without your separate written permission, and customer photos are deleted 30 days after delivery, as explained in the Privacy Policy.

10. Examples from everyday orders

“Can you put our favourite football team’s logo on the reunion shirts?”

Not without the team’s permission. We can print “Garcia Family Reunion 2027” with a football and your family’s own colours, and everyone’s number on the back.

“My dad loves a famous cartoon dog. Can you print it with his name?”

We cannot print the character. We can print a photo of your own dog with “Dad’s Best Buddy” and his name.

“It’s my bakery’s logo. I designed it.”

Great, that is yours to use. Put a note in the order notes and email us the logo file with your order number.

“The school PTA said we can use the mascot.”

Wonderful. Email us the written permission with your order number before printing, and we will go ahead.

“Can you copy a shirt I saw in a shop?”

We cannot copy another brand’s design or artwork. Tell us what you liked about it, for example the big bold letters across the chest or the sleeve print, and write your own text in the order notes. Many of our designs already use a similar layout with room for your words.

“Is a funny phrase I saw online okay?”

Short everyday phrases are usually fine. Some slogans are registered trademarks, and some longer quotes come from songs, books or films. If a phrase is closely tied to a brand or a famous work, we may suggest a different wording.

“What if I already ordered and only now realise the logo is a problem?”

Email us right away with your order number. If the order has not been printed, we can change the design to your own words or cancel the item with a full refund within 7 days. If it was already delivered, our usual 60-day return window still applies.

11. Questions and contact

Not sure whether your design is okay? Email us before you order and describe it. We reply within 24 hours on business days and will tell you honestly what we can print. For general questions see the FAQs or Contact Us.

Teetopia, 2964 E Parkriver Dr, Boise, ID 83706, US. Email support@teetopia.shop.