I Heart Lawsuits

tee-ltd-ed-ihguts2_MEDWhen life hands you a cease and desist, make t-shirts! Many moons ago we designed a parody shirt of the I Heart NY logo, replacing their heart with ours and NY with GUTS. Not long after I put it up, we got served with a cease and desist notice from New York City Development Corporation asking us to remove the shirt from our site and destroy the remaining stock. Needless to say, this really sucked, especially since we are not the only ones who have aped this design over the years (I know this continuing copying dilutes the copyright, it's unoriginal, etc., believe me, I get it and I feel bad). Not liking to waste t-shirts, however -- organic tees at that -- we asked if it would be okay to alter the shirts so that the logo was no longer visible. They said fine. So I got crazy with the RIT dye and Chuva got crazy with the metallic thread stitching and here is the first in our series of limited-edition cease and desist tees, we only made 8! We will be making a few different special designs over the next few months, so if you miss these (or don't like them) there will be more.

Related Posts

New Colors for Skin Pins & Eyeball Pins!
 Looking for cute dermatology skin pins? Look no further than our fleshy friends, now in a more melanated color! Ador...
Read More
You Kneed This Knee Surgery Keychain!
Keeping your knees crossed for a successful knee surgery? This knee joint keychain will let 'em know you kneed 'em! T...
Read More
Weirdest Stuff on Etsy: Elephant Thongs, Alien Babies and ... Organ Plushies!
Obviously I am not a stranger to making strange things. I mean, I make organ plushies for a living. So I really shoul...
Read More

5 comments


  • Erica

    Genius! Love it! Am somewhat stunned that your version qualified for copyright infringement…Thank goodness the US government never went after the Ramones!


  • Carry Your Guts « I Heart Guts

    […] is a great way to show you’re gutsy inside and out. Part of our ongoing quest to use these cease-and-desist shirts we can’t sell but can’t bear to throw away, either, my fabulous cohort Rachel got crazy […]


  • Hoodies Are Back! « I Heart Guts

    […] and dresses located in Buffalo, New York, these hoodies are one-of-a-kind, made from a combo of our ill-fated I Heart Guts organic tees, scavenged fabric and some new stuff thrown in for good measures. I first met Holly at Renegade San […]


  • Upside Down Love « I Heart Guts

    […] made a parody of the I Heart NY logo replacing the heart with our own, and shortly afterwards were asked to destroy the shirts by the New York City Development Corp. Well, destroy them we did, in our own special way, by […]


  • I Heart NY, TM | 99% Invisible

    […] was in violation of the I ♥ NY trademark. Wendy altered the shirts to create an entire cease and desist limited edition series of I Heart Guts merchandise. (Credit: I Heart Guts) CMG Worldwide sends out about […]


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.