As a venue for artists, designers, and marketers, Teespring takes intellectual property very seriously. We comply with intellectual property laws and industry best practices in order to maintain the integrity of our creative marketplace. We address all allegations of infringement, encourage authorized parties to submit proper notices of infringement regarding content in our marketplace, and communicate effectively when any user is affected by a notice.
If you’re unsure about a design you want to sell, make sure to check out our guide to Understanding Intellectual Property.
Intellectual Property Registration
Teespring values creativity wants to find more effective solutions to protecting people’s designs and livelihoods. For this reason, we rely on a standard Intellectual Property claim process. This means if you have a trademark or copyright registration number for your work, you can submit that information as part of your claim. If you have not yet registered your designs, but your designs are creative and rise to the level of being copyrightable, you are also able to file a claim. If you have a particularly successful design it’s advisable to have it registered.
You can learn more about how to register your works with the US Copyright Office (eCO) online—please note we can accept valid registration numbers from other countries too.
Design Guard (BETA)
Adding Design Guard to your Teespring listings will provide an extra layer of protection. Any seller caught copying a protected design will immediately be banned from Teespring and all of their listings will be disabled.
We are excited to offer this feature to the entire Teespring Community in the future, however during this beta phase, we are limiting access to any Teespring seller with registered works (trademark and/or copyright). See “Intellectual Property Registration” section above to learn more about how to register your works to qualify.
Design Guard will help protect unique designs created by artists, influencers, brand owners, sellers, etc. on Teespring. In the future, we may also be able to prevent bad actors from launching copies of these protected works on site.
If you have registered designs you may contact [email protected] to request Design Guard status be added to your listing(s). Sellers need to provide the listing URL(s) as well as evidence of ownership (this can include a registration certificate or ID number, a screenshot or listing URL which proves the original launch date of the design, etc.). Teespring has the exclusive right to determine if a submitted design will be given protected status.
Please note, if you request to add Design Guard to a listing that is later delisted due to a violation of our Acceptable Use or IP policies you may lose access to this feature and your trust score may be lowered.
IP Claim Form
Please keep in mind the IP Claim Form is available for individuals who would like to report infringement on their legally registered artwork. Only use this form if you have a copyright or trademark registration number or if you are making a claim regarding a design of yours that you DO NOT sell on Teespring.
Reporting Copycats
This year we aim to eradicate copies of original seller designs (so-called “copycats”) from Teespring. The first step is to simplify our reporting process for sellers. Starting immediately, sellers can email Teespring Seller Support at [email protected] using the following format to quickly report copies of their original designs. You can report copycats on Teespring and the Boosted Network too. When submitting copycat listings add “COPYCAT REPORT” to the email subject.
- Teespring login email
- URLs to original listings/stores
- URLs to copycat listings/stores (listed on Teespring and/or Boosted Network)
Please note that designs with the same idea or concept are allowed to be sold on Teespring. However, an original design itself cannot be copied without the owner’s permission. Clear copying of other seller’s content (example pixel for pixel copies) can result in immediate disablement of your Teespring account and/or termination of access to the Boosted Network (see “Seller Trust Score” above).
All submissions will be reviewed within approximately 24 – 48 business hours. Once we have reviewed your case, you will be notified of the outcome—including whether the reported content (and corresponding sellers) have already been delisted or an estimated timeframe in which all reported content (and corresponding sellers) will be delisted.
