As many of you know, Catholics With Attitude has been around for just under 6 years. During that time, we have produced a wide range of T-shirts with various Catholic Designs. “Retro”, “Quirky”, “Funny”, “Devout”, “Direct”, “Pious”, “Provocative”, “Inspirational” – these are just some of the words used to describe what we have made and what people have bought. Being a Universal Church, we have used different languages to reflect our Faith, such as Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, German, Portugese, Italian, to name but seven. However, one design has caused us a huge problem.
On the 22nd of May, Lawyers acting for a large clothing company and it’s subsidiaries contacted us to say that we were passing their work off as our own and that we had knowingly infringed their copyright and sold these products full in the knowledge that people would recognise them as being that company’s work. They went on to say that they have confidential agreements in place with other manufacturers controlling the use of retro style get-ups using Swoosh images and of Japanese Characters along with these same images. In short, our Japanese Catholic design was damaging to them.
This came as a shock to us, as we, at no time, copied anybody’s work. As much as we created vintage style Americana designs with Japanese writing, we also did the same for Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Brazil, France, USA, Vatican / Rome, Spain, and, Canada. This is also true for various Saints, Feasts, Occasions, Popes, Holy Places and other themes that are special to Catholic Beliefs.
CWA / Ebowear always act in good faith, and in our dealings with this Company’s Lawyers, we were happy to oblige in any way that we can. We instantly removed the artwork in question as well as any other that could have possibly resembled it. We supplied them confidential, sensitive data outlining our sales figures and the scope of our operation, and we were honest about the fact that we hadn’t sold many (if any at all) of the items in question.
In order to limit the damage and for our own peace of mind, we also ceased trading.
At this moment in time, we are unsure whether or not there will be legal proceedings against us. We are also unsure if the rest of our retro deigns might also be deemed to be problematic for the reasons listed already. We are also acutely aware that we cannot meet some of this Company’s other demands for financial reasons, a fact that could potentially lead them to take court action against us.
As well as the above, we are unsure whether we actually want to continue. We have been subjected to various incidents of anti-Catholic abuse that have required the Police to become involved on 3 times in the past 2 years. Now, whilst acting in good faith, we find that we are separately being accused of cheating, dishonesty, and, stealing ideas. Too much of this stuff isn’t healthy for anyone, and we are seeing the signs that we are starting to feel it.
We have apologised and will always apologise if anyone has been hurt or impacted by what we do. However, we have never set out to offend, to hurt, to damage or harm.
Can we take this opportunity once again to thank all of our friends, shoppers, members of the Catholic and wider Christian community and whoever else has sent us their support, prayers and best wishes.
We hope that this will all draw to a fair conclusion soon.
(IMPORTANT: The opinions expressed by those providing comments to this article are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Catholics With Attitude or Ebowear. Catholics With Attitude / Ebowear are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by parties commenting on this post, nor liable for the same).
On the 22nd of May, Lawyers acting for a large clothing company and it’s subsidiaries contacted us to say that we were passing their work off as our own and that we had knowingly infringed their copyright and sold these products full in the knowledge that people would recognise them as being that company’s work. They went on to say that they have confidential agreements in place with other manufacturers controlling the use of retro style get-ups using Swoosh images and of Japanese Characters along with these same images. In short, our Japanese Catholic design was damaging to them.
This came as a shock to us, as we, at no time, copied anybody’s work. As much as we created vintage style Americana designs with Japanese writing, we also did the same for Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Brazil, France, USA, Vatican / Rome, Spain, and, Canada. This is also true for various Saints, Feasts, Occasions, Popes, Holy Places and other themes that are special to Catholic Beliefs.
CWA / Ebowear always act in good faith, and in our dealings with this Company’s Lawyers, we were happy to oblige in any way that we can. We instantly removed the artwork in question as well as any other that could have possibly resembled it. We supplied them confidential, sensitive data outlining our sales figures and the scope of our operation, and we were honest about the fact that we hadn’t sold many (if any at all) of the items in question.
In order to limit the damage and for our own peace of mind, we also ceased trading.
At this moment in time, we are unsure whether or not there will be legal proceedings against us. We are also unsure if the rest of our retro deigns might also be deemed to be problematic for the reasons listed already. We are also acutely aware that we cannot meet some of this Company’s other demands for financial reasons, a fact that could potentially lead them to take court action against us.
As well as the above, we are unsure whether we actually want to continue. We have been subjected to various incidents of anti-Catholic abuse that have required the Police to become involved on 3 times in the past 2 years. Now, whilst acting in good faith, we find that we are separately being accused of cheating, dishonesty, and, stealing ideas. Too much of this stuff isn’t healthy for anyone, and we are seeing the signs that we are starting to feel it.
We have apologised and will always apologise if anyone has been hurt or impacted by what we do. However, we have never set out to offend, to hurt, to damage or harm.
Can we take this opportunity once again to thank all of our friends, shoppers, members of the Catholic and wider Christian community and whoever else has sent us their support, prayers and best wishes.
We hope that this will all draw to a fair conclusion soon.
(IMPORTANT: The opinions expressed by those providing comments to this article are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Catholics With Attitude or Ebowear. Catholics With Attitude / Ebowear are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by parties commenting on this post, nor liable for the same).
