Starbuck Vanished! Where’d She Go?
You might have noticed the Battlestar Galactica jersey is no longer available. Those who ordered it will be issued refunds.
Right to the point: Rinkgear and I received a Cease and Desist order today from NBC Universal, the parent company and rights holders of Battlestar Galactica. I have complied to the best of my abilities, and will continue to do so because I am a huge supporter of NBC and Battlestar Galactica.
This is disappointing news for those who ordered, myself included. My deepest apologies, this was supposed to be a fun and cool item that was niche and truly your own.
All the blame for this lies with me alone. Where I am at fault is how I portrayed this endeavor in a fashion akin to a merchant selling goods. I created a solid design, a detailed sales pitch, lots of pricing and ordering information - pretty much went the whole nine yards to relay information about these jerseys and how to go about attaining one.
I didn’t put enough emphasis on this being a non-profit affair, or how this was a custom team order, or that this was a fan initiative. Instead I posed to everyone “Hey this is cool, want one?” And spent my efforts coordinating these orders.
Also I assumed all things that you commission for yourself (in this case custom jerseys), don’t need approval from IP holders. I thought this would be akin to cosplay or fandom appreciation, but clearly I have a lot to learn.
I truly hope that NBC doesn’t find Rinkgear responsible for this - they’re just a custom hockey jersey vendor. It’s their business to make what customers want. I also talked to many other jersey vendors about making these, and not once did any of them say it was illegal or could land them in jeopardy. The common refrain was “anything you want”.
This was a big wake-up call, and I am now wondering how to proceed with geeky jerseys, if at all.
Posted on January 9, 2012, in TV and tagged Battlestar Galactica, NBC, TV. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Comments.
Please don’t stop! D: I only just discovered your site, and while I love Doctor Who and really want one of your TARDIS jerseys, I’m going to hold out for one of your (hopefully) upcoming Game of Thrones ones. And I’m pretty excited about the idea of football/baseball versions that you mentioned a while ago.
As long as you stress that it’s a not-for-profit venture if should soften the networks (hopefully!). I mean, RedBubble is full of stuff that infringes copyright and they ARE for profit.
Just checked out Redbubble. Maybe it’s because they are in Australia? That’s a lot of infringement.
I’m really bummed at the moment, so the talk of quitting these is probably exaggerated. I want to keep making these, because people love them and it makes them happy. Lame I know!
We’ll see what the next 10 days hold.
Dave, Don’t give up.
I too have only just found your site (thanks Topless Robot) and admittedly, I’m really gutted about the BSG jerseys, but after looking at the rest of your site, I was excited to see the Ghostbusters Jersey (defo ordering later this year) and the Last Starfighter concept - hell i’d buy one!
Its a real shame that NBC Universal have come down hard on a fan project like this. Its not like they are doing much with the license themselves (Grrr… where is our “blood & Chrome” pilot? hmm).
Should this ever get resolved and the BSG jersey becomes available, you can count on my support.
No, frak! I’m shocked by this! Like Mr. Young said, it’s a real shame that NBC Universal would stop this considering it would have been a small run for people that are really into the show - and they haven’t done much of anything with BSG. And there’s fan-made stuff all over!
I was so excited for that design! I hope it will be possible to make the jersey sometime in the future, and I hope everything’s cool on your end.
Everything is cool for now! At least until NBC writes back asking what I want for a last meal.
I’m pretty shocked and saddened by this. As a huge Sci-Fi and hockey fan, I was totally buying the BSG jersey. The thing is, NBC Universal should buy your design and put them out rather than stop the whole project. Hell, I went so far as to buy screen used prop Caprica Buccaneers hockey jerseys, specifically because they won’t put them out.
That reminds me, I wanted to create all the designs for the Pyramid League, as there is really not much in existence. Also I liked how they use actual hockey jerseys, as was seen in the Caprica finale (I’m guessing that is what you own).
I’m sure NBC would like to make those available, but through a third party licensee. However I am seeing NBC develop more and more products internally, so you never know.
Yep, that is what I own, two of the hockey jerseys worn by fans in the final episode. Interestingly enough, even the props aren’t the best, as they used an iron on transfer for the C-Bucs logo rather than make patches etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love my jerseys and wear them at every opportunity, but I would have though they would have made them as close to authentic hockey jerseys as they could.
The thing about NBC and BSG/Caprica stuff, the shows ended years ago. Caprica, as much as I loved it, failed to win over a large audience. Why they would spend development money on releasing Buccaneers jerseys or jerseys like you had designed, seems almost ludicrous, and they should be more support of fan initiatives, especially ones that seemed to be of such a high quality. If they want to say BSG is still a viable IP, then tell us when Blood and Chrome is coming out, it just seems like they would rather play a Golum and hold on to their Precious, even though in the grand scheme of things, the money you were looking at was negligible at best. Regardless, it looks like you do awesome work, and you should keep at it. Best of luck to you in all things.
Sigh, now is NBC/Uni going to troll your site for any and all IP that may pertain to them? I want an internet petition to get them to allow this jersey! (and I don’t even want one lol)
You can at least now put on your resume “Fan hockey jersey designs so good NBC Universal didn’t want them released”
… or perhaps an IP lawyer just didn’t like the design /gasp.
Thanks for your enthusiasm! I’m sort of hoping NBC is scouring my site. They may offer me a job. One can dream!
We’ll see how this evolves. If I am dragged to a courtroom or 30 Rockefeller for ten lashes, a petition wouldn’t be helpful.
But it’s nice to know you got my back.
Check out how EA has one First Amendment rights to use real people in their college sports games and how they are currently fighting to use real helicopters in BF3.
They won the right on the college kids, pretty much they used everything except the kids name!
They claim “artistic expression”. I have a few IP lawyer friends, I’m going to toss your experience and EA’s at them and see what they say :p How is that for a dinner chat?
That would be an interesting dinner chat. It’s certainly provided me with a lot of discussion.
Someone told me if I didn’t broadcast what I was doing (no matter how transparent I try to be), I’d be fine. Because so many people pool together to buy custom stuff all the time.
Aw man, I was ready to play my order tonight! It was a great shirt, great idea, great design.
So, I’m not a lawyer. But I’m a librarian who has worked in a law firm, taken a couple of classes on various legal issues including Intellectual Property stuff. But, in my somewhat-educated view, you should keep going. You could contact every IP holder for every property you want to do a jersey for, but that’s really overkill. A lot of the time, creators will smile and just ignore it. I’m sure if Ron Moore had seen the jerseys he would have been really jazzed about it - but you caught the attention of the IP lawyers, who did what they’re paid to do, and you did exactly what you should.
So, keep it up, and if you ever get a C&D again, pull the offending item and keep on carrying on. As long as you keep this non-profit and stop WHEN TOLD TO, there’s no good reason not to. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Thanks so much for the insight. After reading that it’s helped me to realize I shouldn’t take this personally, that this is merely a routine exercise for NBC and likely many other companies.
I’ll wait and see how this shakes out before carrying on. If anything else, I am learning a lot, and this may be beneficial going forward.
Really loved the Starbuck design; maybe you’ll work it out with NBC some day…
This makes me so sad. I bought the BSG jersey for my girlfriend for Christmas. I showed her the design and she was almost crying. I was going to make it an engagement present. Please let us know if this is possible to make in the future.
I’m really sorry to hear that. Had I known this was a remote possibility, I probably would not have done this to begin with.
Been brainstorming other BSG stuff (minus the license) like Pyramid jerseys with my own designs, possibly my own team names.
Though I don’t think anything I could make as a conciliation prize would measure up to the appeal of a Starbuck-themed jersey. That’s a tall order in all honesty.
Please stay tuned, you never know what could develop.
All the best with your engagement and all that lies beyond! So say we all.
This is quite disappointing, My wife and I were looking at placing an order (Tardis for her, Galactica for me). we may still order hers, but I was looking forward to that one.
Keep fighting the good fight, And I hope you have a future design I can geek over as much as that one.
Well, the both of you can fit into the Tardis jersey at the same time! Oh I kill me.
Check back often, maybe one day I’ll have something up your alley (*at davesgeekyhockey.com from here on out).
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