Trademarks are an essential topic to understand if you want to start a successful e-commerce business. Not because you immediately have to register any trademarks for your products or business, but because you need to avoid violating other people’s trademarks. This is one of the most common mistakes new Etsy sellers make, and it’s a surefire way to get your shop shut down and banned. Selling platforms do not like trademark violations, so the last thing you want to be is one of the low-effort sellers with a shop full of bootleg Disney and Harry Potter t-shirts.

This post will answer some of the most common questions I get about trademarks and licensing rules for selling on Etsy. This post focuses mainly on digital and print-on-demand products because that’s what I sell and talk about on this blog, but all the trademark information applies to anyone selling handmade goods online.

You can learn more about selling printables here.

Learn more about selling print-on-demand (POD) products here.

 Note: I am not a lawyer, so this does not constitute professional legal advice or anything of the sort. This is information I’ve gathered based on my own research as a seller who wants to stay on the legal side of things. Also, I am based in the United States, so this focuses on U.S. Trademark laws specifically. 

(This post contains affiliate links)

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a word, phrase, design, or other feature that primarily serves to identify the owner of a product or service. Trademark symbols may indicate that someone is claiming a mark as a way to identify the source of a product and protect their rights. Commonly trademarked items include company names, logos, and slogans. Suppose you came up with an original phrase to put on a t-shirt and it became popular to the point where other shops were copying the phrase, you could register to have it trademarked as long as you were using it first. Once you have it trademarked, you have the right to prevent anyone else from using it. You can also do this with the name of your company.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website has a free database of all marks that have been applied for, including those that were refused.

How to Search for Registered Trademarks

Before you choose a shop name or create a product that has a quote or phrase on it, you need to check to make sure it’s not trademarked. If it is, and the trademark owner sees you’re using it, they can send you a cease and desist via Etsy, which could get your shop shut down after multiple offenses. Usually, all that will happen is Etsy will tell you to remove any listings that violate the trademark, and once you do that you’re all good. Etsy has not provided an exact number of times this can happen before a shop is shut down, which is why it’s best to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Here’s what to do to find out if a phrase is trademarked:

1) Go to the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) here.

2) Choose “Basic Word Mark Search (New User)”

3) Type in your inquiry in the “Search Term” field and click “Submit Query.” You can narrow the search by using the advanced features, but I haven’t had a reason to do this. 

If you see the empty results screen turn up, there are no active trademarks and you should be good to use it.

If you do see a trademark show up and it says “LIVE” next to it, that means the trademark is in the process of becoming registered. If it says DEAD, the trademark has expired. If that’s the case, I recommend clicking on the trademark to read more about when it expired, what it was used for, and whether it looks like something that might be renewed in the future. 

If there’s no registered trademark and you still want to know if someone else is using a phrase, your next step is to perform a Google search, see if there’s any companies or products out there using the phrase, and hedge your bets accordingly. 

I once looked up a phrase and there was a dead trademark from when a steakhouse used it for an event several years prior. I did some Google searching of the restaurant and event, and they hadn’t done anything similar in the years since the trademark had died, so I decided to go ahead and use it because it didn’t look like they had a reason to renew it. 

Examples of Phrases You Would Never Think Were Trademarked

Trademark laws apply to obvious large brands such as Disney, Harry Potter, NFL, etc., so anything affiliated with another company like this is automatically off the table to use on your products. It’s easy to know when something is clearly associated with a well-known brand, but there are also millions of registered trademarks out there for more broad and less obvious phrases. There are some unbelievably common phrases that you’d never expect would be trademarked, which is why this exercise is so important for small sellers in particular.

To give you an idea, here are some surprising trademarked phrases you can’t use:

Dog Mom

Boy Mom

Hot Mom

Football Mom

Baseball Mom

I’m The Big Sister

I’d Rather Be With My Dog

I Love My Wife

Boss Babe

How to Avoid Violating Trademarks

Your best bet to avoid violating any trademarks is to create original designs that could not cause brand confusion with another company.

The rule of thumb to keep in mind is this: if you’re only making it look that way because of someone else’s intellectual property, don’t do it. So if you wouldn’t add those glasses and lightning bolts to that shirt if not for the relation to Harry Potter, don’t do it.

I’m telling you – whoever you are, wherever you are, you are capable of making something cuter and more original than Minnie Mouse ears. You can totally make sports tees without the NFL logos. Create a brand of your own and give people a reason to think that buying from a small business owner like you is better than buying bootleg from someone else (or from a billion dollar corporation, for that matter). 

Research trends on Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Trends to get an idea of what’s hot right now. Then, search a design site like Creative Fabrica for some graphics and fonts that go with your ideas. You can download unlimited commercial use fonts and graphics with their monthly subscription, and they even have a service where you can request a specific type of design and have someone make it for you. It’s one of the most valuable websites for my e-commerce business and they’re always adding new stuff. I store all my downloads from Creative Fabrica in Canva, which is also where I create my designs. 

You can also create designs to sell as printable or POD merch with PlaceIt. They have some super quirky templates that are sure to get you inspired.

To make it easier to come up with your own designs, I’ve created a fill-in-the-blank quote cheat sheet that you can use to come up with unique niche-related quotes and phrases for your printable and POD products. I’ve also created 25 free Canva templates that you can use to start making your own printables right away. Sign up for my email list below and both products will be sent to your inbox.

“But thousands of other people are selling Disney/Harry Potter/Baby Shark on Etsy and they haven’t been shut down yet, so why can’t I?”

I don’t know. Some people drink battery acid and die, other people drink it and don’t die. Can’t explain that either but I still feel confident telling you not to drink battery acid. Their shops will be shut down eventually. Lots of people like to play that gamble, but you probably won’t enjoy it when you’re banned from opening new stores. If you want to take this seriously as a source of income at all, just don’t do it.

Learn More: Join the Trademark Watch Dawg Facebook Group

Trademarks are a valid way for people and companies to protect their brand and intellectual property, but of course, there are people out there taking advantage of the system and attempting to corner various markets by trademarking frivolously common phrases. Years ago I was selling a t-shirt that said “polite as fuck” on it, and another t-shirt company sent me a removal request because they were attempting to trademark the phrase “polite as”. Their only advantage was they had the funds to justify trying to trademark common phrase so they could remove competition (AKA small sellers like me) and make more money without putting any actual effort into their brand. 

There’s a Facebook group called Trademark Watch Dawgs that’s filled with online sellers discussing frivolous trademarks and the industry in general. It’s a great place to learn more about the subject as a whole and how you can protect your business from trademark-related harassment. 

Check out more of my tips for selling digital and POD products:

How to make and sell printables on Etsy

20 types of digital products you can sell on Etsy for passive income

How to start an e-commerce business with print-on-demand

5 reasons why print-on-demand is the perfect starter business