I am dipping my toe into print on demand e-commerce. I had the idea to do a car calendar, but I'm uncertain if the images themselves would fall under copyright/trademark. Some of the images are my own and others are from a royalty free website. Any advice on how I can find out if cars and other images are copyrighted/trademarked? Also, what's the difference between copyright and trademark?
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\$\begingroup\$ Does this answer your question: Who owns the copyright of a picture/video in which my car appears? \$\endgroup\$– scottbb ♦Commented Dec 28, 2021 at 16:07
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\$\begingroup\$ Related concerning trademarks/logos: Logo/Trademark infringements and How can you find out if a building falls under trademark rules? (trademarks on both buildings and cars apply to their shape/design) and What legal restrictions are there on the use of logos in photos? and Hand painted Coca-Cola logo on old garage \$\endgroup\$– Michael CCommented Dec 29, 2021 at 16:51
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- There is no such thing as "copywrite" or "copywright" - it's "copyright", the right to copy something, nothing to do with writing.
- If you made the images (and weren't doing it "for hire" for someone else), you own the copyright. If you got them from "a royalty free website", you need to read the T&Cs of the website.
- All images are copyrighted; some may be released under a license which allows you to use them. If you don't know what license they're under, you almost certainly can't use them.
- Images themselves cannot be trademarked. However, the subject of the image (cars in your case) can well be; you will need to ensure that you do not infringe on their trademark by in any way implying your calendar is associated with the car manufacturers.
I would advise you to have professional advice if you're going down this route; it could be very expensive if you get it wrong.
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1\$\begingroup\$ Copyright does not exist in all images... e.g. images made by a US government employee in the course of their work are public domain. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 28, 2021 at 18:42
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\$\begingroup\$ @StevenKersting That's US specific; the US government retains the right to assert copyright outside the US. \$\endgroup\$– Philip Kendall ♦Commented Dec 28, 2021 at 18:49