June 7, 2008 - 6:22pm — Alexandra
Legal Advice
I am in desperate need of legal advice regarding the use of copyrights and trademarks. I would like to market merchandise with a charity's tm and give the money to the charity. This would be an extremely sucessful venture if I could just get it started!!! I have researched as much as i can and i found that selling merchandise that implies an established entity is legal and it is called fan merhcandising. I've tried to get in touch with the charity but it has been very difficult. Is there anyone who can give be credible legal advice or ideas on how can can contact this charity for permission??? Thank you!!!
- Alexandra
Re: Legal Advice
Hi Alexandra,
Great question! Have you tried emailing Technical Ally E-Advisors? The E-Advisors program connects Venturers who have specific technical questions, such as yours, with E-Advisors who have relevant experience via email. Youth Venturers from across the U.S. are invited to e-mail their specific technical questions in the categories listed here to TechnicalAlly@youthventure.org. A Youth Venture staff relay emails from Venturers to appropriate Technical Allies who can answer their question.
Anyway, so I recommend that you email them and verify that what you want to do is legal and for ideas/advice to get your idea off the ground. Also, have you already completed an action plan to get seed funding from Youth Venture? If you haven't already, I highly recommend that you do. You can use that seed funding to pay for your initial merchandise costs. Check out YV Basics for more info on Youth Venture, and Action Plan and Budgeting for tips on completing an action plan. I hope that helps! Good luck!