Post #198407 by Tipsy McStagger on Wed, Nov 16, 2005 9:10 AM

most places back in the day were content to have any mug with their name on it, not necessarily a custom signature mug...just cause the same looking mug had a different name on it doesn't mean each bar claimed the mug is theirs...for example, suppose tiki farm took one of the mugs they designed and copyrighted, sent out a letter to all tiki bars saying hey, we have this cool mug...if you want some, we can put your bars name on it and you can buy a bunch for your bar....next thing you know, several bars want the mug, they all get their own bars name on it and viola!!..this is exactly what happened years ago with otagiri, daga, orchids, dynasty, etc.....it was cheaper to do it that way, but tiki bars made big bucks back then and it was worth the publicity and the money to shell out to have a custom mug made. the above mentioned companys probably hold the copyrights for their line of mugs, and the individual bars with signature mugs probably hold the copyright for theirs though they may liscense the use of it to the company that produced it...much like tiki farm won't just produce a mug for an artist for that artist to sell on his own as he/she sees fit, without also including a clause in which they can also sell said mug...they are not fools, and know that there is money to made from artists designs....