We have been contacted by legal representatives from the National Security Agency, and at their request, have removed the product from the Zazzle Marketplace. Is the message that many sellers on Zazzle recieved recently. It appears that the NSA is upset about all of the bad publicity and they are going after parody tshirt makers as well. At first the shirts were being pulled from the site without an official statement from the NSA. After much news coverage the NSA responded with the following;
The NSA seal is protected by Public Law 86-36, which states that it is not permitted for “…any person to use the initials ‘NSA,’ the words ‘National Security Agency’ and the NSA seal without first acquiring written permission from the Director of NSA.”
NSA has not sent a cease and desist letter to Zazzle since March 2011 regarding a mug they were selling using the NSA Seal. At any time that NSA is made aware that the NSA Seal is being used without our permission, we will take appropriate actions.
So as far as we can tell. Zazzle is pulling products from their site that they belive maybe a violation. This being done without the officialy copyright holders contacting Zazzle in any way shape or form. Zazzle is just pulling them off due to fears that the copyright holders may contact them. Often the emails Zazzle sends out say the copyright holder contacted us, but from this it seems as if this is not always the case.
In the future and as always before. Be sure to check if the images you are using are not previously used. Always be original and if you find someone using your images contact Zazzle imediately.
That is all - Zazzle Tops over and out
