Routinely on lot, Shakedown and tour, a few phans take it upon themselves to use the outline of the Phish logo, or a resemblance of it to create a piece of lot art – typically a shirt or sticker – and sell it for profit. This is wrong and should not be encouraged.

There are dozens of examples of this kind of ripoff of the Phish logo. We choose only to post one as a prime example of where fans go wrong in using copyrighted material. We have all seen these on the lots, sometimes they are phans, sometimes local entrepreneurs, but they all do not deserve a bit of business from phans.

Too many times in the past couple tours this has been witnessed. When PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish was first accepting images of Phish fan-art for the book, we received a handful of versions of the Phish logo, an iconic image.  None were used. When fans and creators of the art asked why, we explained that the art was done using a copyrighted logo for the band, and as such, it would not be included in a book of original art made by fans.

Some important details about the logo can be found here.

The most important thing to keep in mind is this (via phish.net): The Phish logo is INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY! The logo is owned by Phish, and they control its commercial use. Please respect the intellectual and artistic property of the band and do not support weasel thief rip-offs. Please report such thievery to the proper individuals. The logo is included on this page for clear and apparent informational purposes, in that the purpose of this page is to discuss the use of the logo, notably, without profit.

So why shouldnt you use the Phish logo in any way, shape or form, including the the outline of the logo?

1. Because it is unoriginal to take the Phish logo and put a different word inside of it.

2. Because you are stealing someone else’s art, namely, Phish’s.

3. Because you run the risk of facing legal consequences for stealing the art.

Don’t do it. Be creative. We want you to be creative, not ripoff an existing idea.