t-shirts with logos of fictional companies from tv shows or movies on them

dude at work has a schrute farms mousepad and an aperture science tshirt

this phenomenon reached its horrific apotheosis with "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co"

^^ otm

http://www.feistees.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/cntpk2.jpg

the mentality of the people who wear them is

"i dig jim and pam, that dwight is funny! now i will spend 25 bucks on this t-shirt."

vs.

"i dig vampire weekend's sweet sexy jams, I will now spend 25 bucks on this t-shirt."

if you buy a band t at a show, the band gets all the money; if you buy a tv show t shirt the money's probably mostly going to the network with very little of it going to the creative people behind the actual show ... i don't know seems like a big difference to me

I always assumed those t-shirts with fictional companies from TV shows profited only the t-shirt vendor, since the companies were nonexistant and probably not trademarked. Like I don't think NBC thought to trademark Vandelay Industries, etc.

It would still be their "intellectual property" though, wouldn't it?

assuming NBC didn't bother to trademark something is a game you don't want to play

yes

they don't have to trademark it i don't think

BTW, my guess is that copyright would extend to those things as well

yah, shit is automatic

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co

that's a real restaurant and not a fictional company, sadly

Copyright = automatic (although can be registered)
Trademark = not automatic, but can happen through usage in commerce even without registration

i meant copyright not trademark

I wd only do this for something real old, like The Albacore Club

Tshirts can be more subcultural identifier than anything. Check out all the teefury/woot sites that make an entire industry out of such shirts. It works akin to having a pin/button for a band on your jacket. Cleverness doesn't necessarily enter into it.

For example, would I wear a Weyland-Yutani shirt? Yes. Would I think such a shirt is clever? No.

my "Packard Sawmill 2x4s and 4x8s" shirt is awesome fuiud

people also just have dumb ideas in general for a t shirt

Copyright extends to a creative work and prohibits unlicensed "derivative works." Usually this includes stuff made based on characters from a fictional work, so I could see it also extending to fictional companies.

Fictional corporate personhood?

http://www.80stees.com/products/Star-Wars-Cantina-Band-Shirt.asp?utm_source=goog-merch&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=SWARS298

They should make one of these for the convenience store in the Wire with some kind of joke about burners

David Simon would be PISSED

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co

that's a real restaurant and not a fictional company, sadly

― dmr, Thursday, July 26, 2012 2:30 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I couldn't believe it when I found this out. There's one in Times Square, right? So weird.

But I mean didn't it come after the movie?

my pal - I promised I'd reacha huge audience for him

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanklemek-art/poison-dart-frog-t-shirt

Note: This is a collage made from multiple doodle pages.

For example, would I wear a Weyland-Yutani shirt? Yes. Would I think such a shirt is clever? No.

then why wear it??

no one should wear t-shirts with logos or writing on them, ever

because it's a dope-ass logo and people would know you liked Aliens.

xp

it's an artifact from inside the fictional universe, no? it's a kind of cosplay, maybe. like inside of the friends universe there's an actual central perk where you could buy one of their t-shirts and go around wearing it but there's no actual friends tv show so wearing that positions you outside of it.

update tv show for relevance if you wish.

But I mean didn't it come after the movie?

yeah I guess you're right they took it to the next level, creating a shitty restaurant to go along w/ the t-shirts and hats

Served a customer who had this tee the other day

http://i1.cpcache.com/product/371768231/white_tshirt.jpg?color=White&height=460&width=460

I miss Prop Joe.

what's wrong with the classic "anus"?

i don't have any band t-shirts, but i would gladly own a crucifictorious shirt
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/5351/picture3af4.png

(i wouldn't gladly pay for one, though)

YES!

Served a customer who had this tee the other day

http://i1.cpcache.com/product/371768231/white_tshirt.jpg?color=White&height=460&width=460
I miss Prop Joe.

― pandemic, Thursday, July 26, 2012 3:06 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damnit!

I would consider a Blues Hammer t-shirt

http://www.cafepress.com/geeklife/5544312

Hey, Latebloomer. Are Pollos Hermanos shirts picking up steam in South Carolina?

Re Bubba Gump, there's one in the French Quarter and it's seemingly always packed and it's generally just a damn shame. But whatever. That's fewer fools ahead of me at the oyster bar over at Felix's.

I don't have any of these but I did almost buy an Aperture Science t-shirt and I would never wear a t-shirt which actually said Portal or probably any other computer game title/logo.

Why? I confess it probably is partly because I am the kind of desperate corny motherfucker who wants to emblazon across their chest "I know an injoke! Plz be my friend if you get my injoke! ^___^ ". Like plain advertising a product would be distasteful but putting a little signifier out for anyone who already digs the product would be a little secret handshake and self-amusingly meta.

But mainly it is because I like the design better. Most of the fun I had in Portal 2 was looking at the company posters from the different eras rather than actually playing the game like a normal person.

i guess part of what's weird to me is the scale of fandom involved - it's like oh you like the office? so do 2 million other people - you don't really get any "cool points" from anyone for having a dunder mifflin t-shirt, which i think is the self-perception when you wear a band t-shirt

anyone who thinks they get cool points for wearing a band t-shirt is most likely 18 years old or younger

how many cool points do you score with a "serenity now" t-shirt with michael richards on the front and summer glau on the back?

I would wear a Dharma Initiative logo t-shirt

mr. que do you ... own a dunder mifflin t-shirt?

xp Ok, but people wear Beatles or Rolling Stones shirts too

i guess part of what's weird to me is the scale of fandom involved - it's like oh you like the office? so do 2 million other people - you don't really get any "cool points" from anyone for having a dunder mifflin t-shirt, which i think is the self-perception when you wear a band t-shirt

I think a better analogy might be sports team t-shirt -- I don't think people wear them to get "cool points", it's just a way of showing their fandom.

http://store.startrek.com/images/products/4/62951-20.jpg

I have this shirt! The screenprinting on it is super cracked now tho

In Little Otik, the father wears this plain white tshirt that says "U.S. BURGER" in red and blue. I don't know if that's a real/fake Czech burger chain or not, but I would totally wear it.

i want a cool battlestar t-shirt. i don't see any good ones online. gotta go to a mall or something.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/669/sterlingcooper434.gif

I'd wear this:

http://www.yoyodyne.com/yoyodyne.jpg

And, on a related note, this:

http://image.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/products/19167921/views/1,width=378,height=378,appearanceId=17/LEGO-Space.png

Are those from the big bang theory or something?

1.) buckaroo bonzai
2.) legos from the 1980s

these are cool:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Outland-Movie-Patches-Set-6-Divisions-2-S-H-/390234444036?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5adbc91104

i have an outland security badge that i got when i went to the grand opening of forbidden planet in nyc. i put my picture in it!

yoyodine is originally a Thomas Pynchon invention, I believe

that same person on ebay has swanky starship troopers stuff. like this handsome beret:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Starship-Troopers-Mobile-Infantry-Beret-/360456410647?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53ece05617

kingfish - I'd wear both those.

Yeah, Yoyodyne is Pynchon.

If we're expanding to patches, this:

http://starland.com/catalog/images/ptal06.jpg

http://www.scifistore.com/items/p/lspalogo.jpg

patches are secret kinda. geek morse code. thus cooler.

guess i don't see why this is a whole thread and not just a single post on the IA thread

― Mr. Que, Thursday, July 26, 2012 3:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in hindsight this is probably where i should have gone with this

yoyodyne is orignially pynchon, but the yoyodyne image above is from buckaroo banzai

I want a Hudson University shirt.

Always wanted Robocop, Alien franchise or Infinite Jest ones.

i would wear a 6000 sux t-shirt

or the family heart center

Dude just walked past me wearing an Isotopes baseball team logo.

As for sports jerseys, I would wear this one:

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/533723546/-17-HANSON-brothers-SLAP-SHOT-movie-Charlestown-CHIEFS-jersey-Blue-any-size-Mix-order.jpg

Or

http://www.dorholtcustomsports.com/images/fletch_back.jpg

The latter one I actually have seen worn at a Blazers game

http://www.tshirtbordello.com/images/tyrell-shirt-l2.jpg

http://www.bayimprint.com/inc/layout/faber_college.jpg

http://www.ubertorso.com/product_images/uploaded_images/brtriplepack.png

Absolutely nothing wrong with these kind of shirts.

Except for Star Wars-related ones. Those should be confiscated by the gov't and burned IMO.

in my office