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These images were erroneously flagged. I made those images myself using GIMP's text tool, an open source flag image, and the official USA presidential seal, which is in the public domain. These images were put together in order to further our own political views.
ReplyDeleteMalachi
Dear EOTI Sales,
ReplyDeleteThank you for contacting CafePress.com!
We apologize for any inconvenience this matter may cause you. Unfortunately, use of the likeness of the seal of the President is a violation of federal law under U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 713. For more information regarding use of the seal please visit
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/33/sections/section_713.html.
Accordingly, we have set the images in question to 'pending status' which disables said content from being displayed in your shop or purchased by the public. You may review the content set to pending status by logging into your CafePress.com account and clicking on the 'Media Basket' link. The content set to pending status will be highlighted red.
For more information regarding our Content Usage Policy please visit http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/cup.aspx.
We apologize for any inconvenience our actions may cause you. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you for finding that. I did not realize that the seal could not be used for presidential campaigns.
ReplyDeleteWould the attached image be an acceptable replacement?
Thanks,
Malachi
You can't use the Presidential Seal? Since when?!?!
ReplyDeleteWell, I looked over the law on one of the .gov sites, and it appears that it was originally put in during Nixon's presidency -- but the law at that time would have allowed it for our use. The most recent change to the law happened in 2004. The current law says that the exceptions are listed in the Federal Register. Checking their site, I could find no information....
ReplyDeleteSo I contacted:
Sharon C. Bisdee
Chief of the Presidential Appointments Staff
United States Department of State
Tel: (202) 647-9731
Fax: (202) 647-4694
She said that the best bet is to talk with an attorney, but that the general rule of thumb is that it is allowed for educational use but not commercial use -- regardless of whether it is for the Presidential Elections or not.
Well, CafePress said that
ReplyDeletethis image isn't acceptable either and that if I want to try any other images I have to contact a lawyer.
I don't know about you but I think that is complete BS. Who in their right minds is going to assume that image is the "official" seal?