“Am I violating Trademark Law?” is a question every crafter posting work online needs to be asking.
Why? Because the everyday words we may think are safe have tripped many crafters up, big time.
As regular viewers of my YouTube channel will know, I give away free printables on this blog.
And this time you get three soccer themed freebies.
But when I was creating the free design and filming the tutorial, I discovered some shocking information.
And it’s information every crafter needs to know to stay legal.
You can watch my YouTube video about it here.
In the video I explain what I found out while I was researching FIFA’s World Cup trademarks.
And I was really shocked at what I uncovered – massive legal traps that everyday hobby crafters could fall into.
The soccer design was fine to create a the free paper bead printable for soccer fans following the World Cup.
Because, I didn’t put any text on the free paper bead strip printable.
But the crucial decision I needed to make was, what wording I could put around the soccer design png decal.
While I was busy researching, “Am I violating Trademark Law?”, I realised thousands of other people definitely were.
During the World Cup 2026 tournament, and even now, Pinterest and Etsy are full of listings for World Cup items.
Everything from keychains to colouring pages to trophies to wall art. And as I said, there are still very many items being sold online that are clearly not official FIFA merch.
As I understand it, FIFA does not license small sellers to sell their official merch.
The deals they do with big corporations and companies to sell official World Cup items are worth millions.
Is it dangerous to play with violating trademarks of copyrights?
Yes! It’s like asking if it’s dangerous to play with matches in a fireworks factory!
Ask any Etsy seller who has suddenly has their shop shut down and their funds frozen, out of the blue.
There are people who knowingly violate trademarks and copyrights and there are those who do it by accident.
And does it matter which of those categories you fall into?
No, it doesn’t!
The anti-piracy bots crawling the online platforms for violations do not know or care how the violation happened.
You may have seen YouTube videos of distressed etsy sellers claiming their shops were closed without warning.
They are often baffled because as far as they were aware, they had done nothing wrong.
And maybe some of them hadn’t.
Because it can be something as simple as using a trademarked word in a hashtag or in the listing.
Because that is what happened to some of the crafters who got caught up in the 2023 ‘smiley’ lawsuit.
The image below is a screen shot of an ai search I did about that lawsuit. Please keep in mind this from ai and ai can get things wrong, but it does seem this is pretty accurate.
So you can see, the question ‘am I violating trademark law?’ is a very important one for crafters to consider.
How many people know that smiley images and, the actual word are off limits?
In the case of that lawsuit, which dragged over 700 etsy sellers into the net from an online anti-piracy sweep, it appears most of those caught up in it successfully defended it.
But dropping a case does not mean everyone is free to use the smiley name – we definitely can’t.
But as you can see, at least one of them had simply used the word ‘smiley’ in a tag for a Capybara enamel pin she was selling.
As crafters, do we really want to face this kind of upheaval in our lives?
In my video I highlight many other words that catch innocent people out.
Onesie is another one. It is heavily trademarked by the Gerber corporation that owns it.
Many makers who sell baby body suits online get trapped by this one because onesie seems like an everyday word – right?
And for anyone saying, well, there are thousands of listings on online platforms for big name trademarked characters – don’t be fooled for a moment!
The platforms hosting the listings have no legal liabilities for what they host until a big brand does a sweep and instructs the platform to remove the listings.
Up to that point, the online platform is making money from the listings, the sales and any ads running for the items.
And if they want to keep the ‘Safe Harbour’ status that protects them from legal liabiliy, then they can’t police listings anyway.
What is Safe Harbour?
When you browse Etsy, you find millions of unique, handmade, and vintage items uploaded by independent creators.
But what happens if a seller uploads something that violates copyright laws?
Why isn’t Etsy held legally responsible for that infringement?
The answer lies in a legal framework known as Safe Harbour.
In the United States, the primary safe harbour protection comes from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Similar electronic commerce hosting frameworks exist globally to protect online platforms.
Essentially, safe harbour laws shield online marketplaces from direct legal liability for copyright-infringing content uploaded directly by their users.
How It Protects Etsy
Safe harbour laws establish a clear set of rules that allow platforms like Etsy to operate without the constant fear of devastating lawsuits:
- No Proactive Monitoring – Under safe harbour rules, Etsy is not legally required to proactively police, vet, or hunt down copyright violations across millions of listings before they go live.
- The Notice-and-Takedown System – To maintain their legal immunity, platforms must cooperate with copyright owners. If an intellectual property holder spots an unauthorized use of their work on Etsy, they can submit a formal infringement notice.
- Swift Compliance – Once Etsy receives a valid takedown request, they must move quickly to remove or disable access to the infringing listing.
As long as Etsy swiftly complies with these formal requests, it keeps its safe harbour protection and avoids being sued as an accomplice to the infringement. This legal balance protects copyright holders while allowing open, creative marketplaces to exist.
And this is precisely why we must never assume that it’s ok because ‘everyone else is doing it’.
All the pirated big names and characters we see on platforms like Etsy will eventually feel the full force of the law.
And if you happen to be someone who used ai to create some ‘Harry Potter inspired’ digital colouring pages to sell, you are sitting on a time bomb.
Because saying ‘Harry Potter inspired’ will not protect you.
When the anti-piracy digital content protection and technology systems sweep the internet on behalf of Warner Bros and JK Rowling, to protect their brand, hundreds of people get caught up in the mass take downs every time.
Don’t let it be you!
Watch my video to see how to stay legal with your crafts – no matter how small you are.