IP laws are really starting to annoy me. Recently, for my upcoming ApnaDesiStore (a part of the ApnaSpace Desi Network) I created this t-shirt design with the image of a chilli and the words "Caution: Spicy Contents" on it. Uploaded it to CafePress only to find that they tagged it for "violating the rights of a third party". I thought it was because I was using hi-res imagery for the first time in one of my designs and they probably wanted to know where and how I obtained the image. So email them and leave them a message on their voicemail explaining the whole thing in detail and how I obtained the image from stock.xchng, a free repository of royalty-free images.

So today I got a reply from CafePress. Turns out, Jim Vitello of Covina, CA has a trademark on the word 'caution' and therefore I can't use it on my t-shirts. What the fuck? Where is this guys product? Atleast Microsoft has a recognizable product to back it's trademark on the word "Windows".

IP laws are really getting out of hand. I fear for the day people have to come up with completely new names to name their newborns, because all the other names have been trademarked. Oh, and they'd have to make sure they trademark their new name as well.