hey....everyone's response after that mess happened were deleted. some of them didn't have anthing to do with the mess. :(

Where on a thong is their room to print letters?

The front of it I would assume??

So I have a question. If this is the case, could Alpha Phi come after me if I put letters on a shirt, or on a pair or shorts, or even if I sew letters on a thong? Or is it just if I try to sell it?

Just wondering because obviously I make tons of shirts and shorts for myself, and so does the rest of the chapter. And AOX81 has that cute little greek store on ebay.

If this is the case then the atleast two companys owned by fraternity actives/alum could be in trouble by nationals? I'm sort of confused, because everyone has shirts made for things like philanthropys, rush, formals etc. Do those all have to be licensed?

i've seen the greekhouse catalogue and they put them on the back. the letters are maybe 1/2in tall at the most...not very noticeable. i don't think the thongs are a big deal, as long as you don't wear them. i would get a pair to say i had them but i would never ever actually wear underwear with my letters on them. i would just laugh at the fact that i own them.

if you make them for yourself, i don't think people would really care. Members of XYZ sorority are allowed to use XYZ in whatever they're making for themselves or their friends. As an XYZ, you're entitled to use your letters. Now if you're making a profit off of them, you COULD possibly get in some sort of trouble. If it's your own org, I doubt it, if it's another person's org, maybe. Especially those greek licensing folks, they can be a pain in the butt.

Example- I have a ton of those Cherished Teddies (unfortunately i've sold most of the "good" letters... i'm left with lots of Psi's, Upsilon's, etc.). I try to make them into a sorority name (Just for example, KD). Everything else I sell comes from a licensed company. But the Cherished Teddies aren't sold to people in groups, I just grouped them together.

Those people at greeklicensing created an ebay account to use the "ask seller a question" and sent me various messages about how I couldn't sell mark them as "Kappa Delta" or say in my listing "these would be a great gift for members of Kappa Delta sorority", etc. I got their first account suspended b/c that's not a legal use of ebay's "ask seller a question." Their second account, I'm not sure what happened to it. They tried to get me to join them as a licensed merchant- had to fill out a huge form and i would've had to pay them a fairly hefty fee, or else they threatened that there could be eventual legal action. But in the event of what I was selling, I wasn't all that scared.

They wouldn't bother someone who just had one or two things up, maybe something they had made for a little who had depledged. But if you're producing a decent amount of products and are not licensed, you are violating trademarks and licensing. While I haven't had IP law yet, it is a very plausable that they would prosecute someone.

I'm not trying to scare anyone, but it is a reality. But it wouldn't worry if you and your sisters were just making your own letters- that's totally okay.

But for Greek House to have a big website and have all these different options, etc. and NOT be licensed by any of the sororities could be a pretty big deal for them

I think if you make it *AND* you try to sell it, that would be the no-no, as you are earning revenue from the letters "Alpha Phi" which are a registered trademark.

If you are working at home making stuff for yourself for free, they can't really do anything about it (and really, why would they? They would be happy to have their members to have their members proudly wearing their letters, methinks)

BTW: to become a licensed vendor costs "beaucoup d'argent" (lots 'o money).
If would like to learn more about this fascinating licensed vendor business, just skip on over to here:
http://www.deltagamma.org/licensed_vendors.shtml

Technically any unauthorized use has to be licensed, but I don't think there's a lot of prosecutions surrounding it. Kind of like all the napster stuff.

Most of the GLOs really don't have the resources, and sometimes it wouldn't be worth the money to even bring suit.

This is just kind of an off shoot, but Beta's made thongs this year as a party favor for their stuido 54 party *I think* but it could have been a different party. The guy who helps me with our tshirts though is a Beta and he showed them to me and asked what I thought. :eek: I was a little sketched out by that!!! Imagine asking your date "Hey what size thong should I order you?....."

I think that AEPi at USC also had thongs made (for some event)...but I'm not completely positive....

LOL....the "what size thong" thing cracked me up!! Seriously I think that the whole idea is sooo inappropriate....thongs for an event, kind of just screams sex.

all i can say is, boys would just love to steal those thongs!! can you imagine- frat boys raiding your house for panties?
it would turn any sorority's rep pretty bad, pretty quick!!:eek:

**note to self, tell Pitt chapter to stay away from the lettered skivvies**

AAgammagirl, don't you know that ALL sorority girls run around in their lingerie and have pillow fights?

HAHAHAHA...i love it!!!! You know what's so funny though....some guys ACTUALLY believe that this is the truth....I guess it is a myth that somehow just keeps getting perpetuated!! But it sure is hilarious!

Don't use that propaganda with me, you can't make me beleive that it doesn't happen.