Can someone help me please?

[Misty Avich]

I wanted to get my dad a personalised balloon from the site Balloon Monkey, as I've ordered balloons from there many times before and have always been satisfied with the results.
I wanted to upload a photo of me and my dad on to the balloon but I only have one nice photo of us and for some reason it wouldn't appear in my photos when uploading. So I thought I'd put his favourite football team on the balloon instead, with a personalised message with me and my siblings' names on it. So I got the logo of his favourite team from Google images then saved it on to my phone.
It looked perfect on the preview of the balloon, but as I was submitting it and was about to pay, there was a checklist thing with one of the things saying about agreeing that I own the photo or have permission or something.
Then that stopped me in my tracks and made me think. I've asked a few people this question but they didn't know what the answer was. I can't ask Google because I don't know which words to use in the search bar, so I thought this was the last resort.
The question: do personalised balloons only have to have photos you took yourself, is there a law against using a logo of an existing thing? Will I go to court, or jail, if I use my dad's favourite football team on a balloon?

I tried to go back on to the balloon monkey site to read the terms and conditions but each time I try to go to the site it now comes up with "this site cannot be reached", even after clearing all cookies, cache, etc.

Somebody please help!!!

 

[Misery]

So, I went and had a look, and... the site does not seem to work. So, that's a thing.

But in an overall sense, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that nobody is going to actually care about you using said image on a single balloon. No, you are not going to jail for putting a football team's image on a single balloon.

Any site/service like this will have their rules as to how they run things, and may simply go "lol nope" if someone hands them something that their rules dont like. It doesnt mean you'll get thrown into a blender. It simply means that it wont be allowed to be made. Usually in a case like that, they'd spot it and message you like "hey, we cant use this, here's why, please send us a different image".

If it was possible to get in big horrible trouble by using a simple service like this, well, it would have collapsed under its own weight long ago. Nobody would use such a service. Well, that and the company would have basically self-destructed via unbearable legal fees, considering how many people would be trying to do things like sending them pics of Spiderman or something to put on a balloon for their kid's birthday party. Your company cant go to court every time someone waves Spiderman at you, that'd be silly.

Seriously, there's nothing to be afraid of here.

I'd suggest just waiting for the site to come back, and if you have questions about the specific image, just message their support and ask them. Dont sit there for 5 hours trying to wade through the legal gibberish that is the terms and services. Just ask. Quick and simple and then you can be sure.

 

[elgat0verde]

Will I go to court, or jail, if I use my dad's favourite football team on a balloon?

Not really

If you are worried you can add "free to use" after the name of the image and all those images are non copyright and you can use them without any problem.

However, you will not go to jail for using it, I assure you, people do this all the time

 

[Misty Avich]

Thank you (I'm laughing at myself now).
Of course, you're right lol, that's the anxiety telling me otherwise. I'm sure the football team isn't going to be at risk of going bankrupt just because someone put their logo on a balloon.
I think I got irrationally anxious about it because there's so much strict laws on copyright and all that these days and I'm always living in fear that I'm going to accidentally break the law one day and get the cops banging on my door. It's always been a worry of mine for some reason, maybe because I read too many stories of innocent people getting accused of things and the real bad criminals getting believed and going scot-free. Lol

I'm glad balloon monkey is down for everyone and not just me not being able to access it. Thanks for your reply, it has helped me relax more.

 

[elgat0verde]

Thanks for your reply, it has helped me relax more

No problem

We all have our moments and it's completely understandable/relatable

 

[MildredHubble]

As @Misery and @elgat0verde have said, basically nothing is going to happen. Copyright and Trademark infringement is nearly always based on the provable demonstrable loss the holder will suffer as a result of using the logo or picture etc. They ain't going to take you to court or the Balloon Monkey company to court over maybe a couple of bucks in damages.

If you were having balloons printed in their thousands and you were selling them outside the stadium, you may end up getting a cease and desist letter from a legal department. But even then it's unlikely there would be any action in court unless you continued to sell the balloons and the business took off and you were making millions.

I think the DMCA and YouTube has frightened a lot of people when it comes to copyright. So it makes sense you'd be worried when you see people getting strikes on their accounts it makes you nervous about what might happen in other contexts.

If the football team ever came after you for making a gift for your dad, the negative press the team would receive on the news just wouldn't be worth it. So never fear when doing these sorts of things, the fat cats aren't interested in going after a child making their parent a gift and fanning the flames of their fandom.

I used Moonpig to make my dad a Christmas card of one of his favourite TV series characters on with a direct quote on the front and that company didn't even question it.

 

[Misty Avich]

Lol I just pictured in my head the whole football team yelling "there she is!!" in the street and all beginning to chase me.

I now know I was just being silly. I think when I saw the "I agree I have permission..." or however it was worded, I thought if I clicked on it I might be found out and prosecuted for lying, or that I'd have to ask the football team personally if I can use their logo. Lol

 

[MildredHubble]

Lol I just pictured in my head the whole football team yelling "there she is!!" in the street and all beginning to chase me.

I now know I was just being silly. I think when I saw the "I agree I have permission..." or however it was worded, I thought if I clicked on it I might be found out and prosecuted for lying, or that I'd have to ask the football team personally if I can use their logo. Lol

That would be quite funny! I'm kinda picturing you running along with your balloon and tons of burly footballers trying to chase and tackle you down, but they all kinda fail and there's someone giving a running commentary as you get the balloon safely home!

I think really the "permission" bit is really just there to indemnify the company. Let's say someone took a picture of someone and printed a picture to play a cruel joke and it caused some distress to the target. If it was something that someone could get sued for, then it's good for the Balloon Monkey people to be able to show that whoever made the order claimed to have permission and they'd be off the hook.

 

[Misty Avich]

And that's funny.

 

[Aspychata]

I kinda get stressed on forms, especially when the company is covering it's butt, and they write such general statements that can mean anything especially exceptions to being negligent, like insurance policies. The only thing to be cautious on, is contracts, just read, re-read, and ask questions. That's a funny picture, 300 lb football players screaming and running after you, and you are running with balloons screaming, l thought l could do this, stop the goons.