What have you printed lately?

[alan802]

Just tried to read up on some of the fraternity/sorority stuff, wow.  That's crazy.  You guys never saw nothing...I never saw anything nor do I know what anyone is talking about.  Gotta go

[mimosatexas]

As far as I understand it Alan, the client you are printing for (if it's who I think it is) is licensed and you should be fine.  They are paying a percentage of every item they embellish and sell to the license holder.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong though...

I do know not every frat/sorority is using licensed vendors here in town, but the handful of brokers I know of are licensed and do handle most of the work.

[alan802]

I am not 100% certain they are so I decided to not keep it up just in case.  I just can't figure out how/why some of the licensing laws exist and how one could keep it all straight.  What if our contract customer told us they were licensed but they actually weren't?  We're so used to just taking a person's word for it but being under a microscope in regards to University of Texas and the departments we work with there we are well aware of THOSE rules but not the fraternal stuff.  Common sense being used you would think if the local Lambda Chi Alpha president at UT were to walk through our door and want to do some tshirts for their spring formal with a sorority on campus that we could just print the shirts for them but that seems not to be the case.  It's a little bit ridiculous in my opinion.  I understand the protections that should be in place but in that scenario I just laid out who and what needs to be protected and why?  They are clearly in good standing with the national chapter by them remaining on campus and therefore a part of the organization.  Maybe it's just a way for the nationals to have their thumb on the local guys to control them any way they can?  Or is there some other reasonable reason to limit who could freaking print a "spring fling boat party" shirt for the local Tri Lambs?

[dirkdiggler]

I hold the LICENSE!  I pay royalties every month!  YOU CAN NOT PRINT IF YOU DONT HOLD THE LICENSE, NOT YOUR CLIENT HOLDING IT!  Pisses me off to see shops doing it ILLEGALLY because I PAY EVERY MONTH!  They will sue your ass if you do it illegally.

[jvanick]

We hold a license too... have to get licensed for each group that you print for, and report/pay for sales of goods printed.

It's actually not that difficult to get licensed, and is one less thing to worry anout.

[dirkdiggler]

and you have to hologram every piece.  required.

[Dottonedan]

I don't know about Frats and Sororities but let me use "College" for my example.


I have held collegiate license myself. My name, My Company (as the distributor). They knew I did not print in house. The only stipulation was that they be sent info on WHO I was using to print and that they be named on the Insurance policy. I think I had to have a 1million policy before they would give me the license. Outside of that, I had  to pay my royalty monthly.

[tonypep]

Colege

[tonypep]

One color white DC BTW

[jvanick]

Colege

no fair.. did you print this lately

LOL.

Nice print tho... love the one-screen DC white jobs like that, I do them for my band all the time.

[tonypep]

About 10 ys ago. So not qualified for "What have you printed lately"

[alan802]

I hold the LICENSE!  I pay royalties every month!  YOU CAN NOT PRINT IF YOU DONT HOLD THE LICENSE, NOT YOUR CLIENT HOLDING IT!  Pisses me off to see shops doing it ILLEGALLY because I PAY EVERY MONTH!  They will sue your ass if you do it illegally.

Don't want to piss anyone off but what's done is done.  Doesn't make sense to me that we can't print for a license holder but I don't make the rules.  We try to use common sense when accepting jobs but that's not always a good policy because common sense isn't being used most of the time.  We do lots of work for a few local colleges and they've gotten very strict on who can do what and yeah, we pay a lot to do that kind of work.  That's the 2nd fraternity job we've done in about 6 years if my memory serves so it won't bother me to never do one again.  I certainly won't be paying for a license for various reasons I won't go into now.

I think I'll stop posting pics and other various things because this isn't the first time something has come to haunt such a seemingly innocent action.

[tonypep]

False information Alan. Of course you can, assuming you have official documentation from the holder. Think hot market. Some holders aren't even printers. Could be some exceptions on certain licenses but I have printed for just about every brand you can think so consider this as a reliable source.
Just don't post pics

[mimosatexas]

I really don't think you need a license if you are printing for a license holder. I know of four license holders here in Austin for Greek life and they "print" the vast majority of that work. None of them are printers, just brokers. I can think of a dozen shops that have printed for them though, and none of them also hold licenses that I know of...

To be clear, the shops are not dealing with the end clients, and affinity is getting their cut on the goods (as far as I know). I know this kind of relationship applies to lots of other licenses...

I do know if a sorority member walked into my shop and asked for something to be printed I would tell them no...

[bimmridder]

Time to split the thread?