Intellectual Property Policy

Last updated: November 14, 2026

Pickleball clubs care about their names. A group that has met at the same courts every Tuesday for years has a name that means something to its players, and the leagues, associations and businesses in the sport care about theirs just as much. This policy explains what Pickl Ink owns, how you may use it, the rules we follow so that our products never borrow anyone else’s name or mark, the rules buyers follow when they personalise an item, and how to raise a concern with us. It sits alongside the Terms of Service, which apply to every order.

1. What Pickl Ink owns

The following material on picklink.shop belongs to Pickl Ink, 3042 Lake Barkley Rd, Henderson, NV 89052, US:

• The name “Pickl Ink”, written as two words, and the way we present it on the site and on packaging.
• Every design on our 20 products, from the Round Robin Sheet Tee to the Score Call Mug, including the crest layouts that hold a buyer’s club name.
• The drawn elements of the site: the clipboard sign-up sheet, the court map that leads to each department, the paddle rack of gift tags and the season strip.
• Product photographs, mockups, illustrations, product descriptions and every page of written text, including this one.
• The layout, the code and the way the pages are put together.

This material is protected by copyright and, where it applies, by trademark and unfair competition law. Owning it does not mean we claim any word that players use every day. Terms such as open play, round-robin, the kitchen, side out, winners stay or league night belong to everyone who plays, and we use them the same way you do.

2. How you may use our content

You are welcome to

• Share links to our product pages in your club’s group chat, newsletter or social page.
• Paste the text that the “Copy the sheet” button produces into a message to your team. That tally is yours.
• Print a product page for your own reference, for example to pass round at a club social while players choose sizes.
• Post photos of yourself or your team wearing items you bought from us.
• Quote a short line from a page with a link back to it.

Please do not

• Copy our designs, product photos or descriptions onto another shop, a marketplace listing or a print-on-demand account.
• Recreate one of our designs with small changes and sell it.
• Use the name Pickl Ink, or something that sounds or looks close to it, in a way that suggests you are us or that we are connected with you.
• Scrape or bulk-download the site with automated tools, other than ordinary search engine indexing.

If your club would like to use something of ours beyond these limits, ask first at support@picklink.shop. Permission is only given in writing.

3. How we keep our own products clean

We draw our own artwork. We do not buy designs from marketplaces, we do not adapt other shops’ work and we do not use stock art that carries someone else’s branding. Our product names and titles are built from players’ own vocabulary, not from anyone’s trademark.

Our products never carry the name, logo, mascot or colours-as-branding of a national association, a professional tour, a team league, a rating system, a championship or tournament, a paddle or shoe brand, or a venue or court chain. We never describe an item as endorsed, sanctioned or licensed by any body in the sport, because none of them is. Skill levels never appear in our titles. A paddle that shows up in our photography is a plain, unbranded prop, and we do not sell paddles, balls, shoes or other playing equipment.

Sample names shown in our pictures and on the “how it prints” card are invented for the purpose. They are not meant to match any real club, franchise or person. If one of them happens to be the real name of your group, tell us and we will change the example.

4. Rules for personalised items

Five items take customer text: the Club Crest Tee, the Varsity Club Crewneck, the Team Tee with Back Name and Number, the Courtside Towel with Name and the Bench Tumbler with Name. Because we print exactly what is typed, in capitals, without a proof step, the person typing is responsible for what goes on the item. These rules keep that simple.

What you may type

• Your own club or group name in the club or team name field, up to 18 characters. A neighbourhood open-play group, a church rec night or a group of friends who play every weekend all count.
• A back name up to 12 characters: a player’s own surname, first name or the nickname the group already uses.
• A home court line up to 22 characters on the Varsity Club Crewneck, written in your own words, such as a day and time or the court number you always play on.
• A name up to 14 characters and a club line up to 18 on the towel and tumbler.
• An est. year from 1965 to 2026 and a number from 0 to 99 where the item offers them.

What you may not type

• The name of a league, association, tour, tournament, championship or rating system, even if your team plays in it.
• The name of a brand, a paddle or shoe maker, a sponsor or any business you do not own.
• The name of a venue, a club facility or a court chain, including in the home court line.
• Someone else’s slogan, a line of song lyrics, a quotation or a catchphrase.
• The name of a famous player or any real person who has not agreed to it.
• Anything offensive, hateful or meant to harass someone.

There is no upload field, so logos and images cannot be added to any item. If your club has its own logo, our crest designs are made to carry your name in its place.

If an order breaks these rules

If we notice that a personalised line uses a name or text listed above, we may decline to print that line and we will contact you by email about it. You can then send different text within the change window or cancel that line. If a rights owner tells us about such an order after it has shipped, we follow section 6.

A worked example: a team that plays in a well-known regional league wants the league name on the front of every Team Tee. Instead, the captain types the team’s own name, say “HARBOR SIDE OUTS”, and leaves the league out. The shirt still says who they are, and nobody else’s mark is involved.

More situations, worked through

A group named after where it plays. Many open-play groups are known by the park or centre they meet at. If that place is a business or a facility with its own brand, type a name that is yours instead: the day you play, the street, or the nickname the regulars use. “THURSDAY 7 AM CREW” fits the 18-character limit and belongs to nobody else.

A back name borrowed from a pro. A player who wants a famous player’s surname on the back as a joke is still putting a real person’s name on a product. Use the player’s own name or the nickname the group gave them.

A club that shares its name with a company. Plenty of ordinary words are also brand names. If your club has used its name for years and it is not the name of a business in the sport, that is usually fine. If you are not sure, email us before ordering and we will tell you how we see it.

A new group with no name yet. Leave the est. year blank, pick a name the group agrees on in the chat, and use the “how it prints” card to see it in capitals before anyone orders.

5. No affiliation

Pickl Ink is an independent shop. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any league, club, association, tournament, rating system, brand or venue. When a buyer’s own club name appears on an item, that club is our customer, not our partner, and its name remains its own. Other names that may appear on the site, for example in a customer’s message we quote with permission, belong to their owners.

6. How to report a concern

If you believe a product, a picture or a page on picklink.shop uses your trademark, your club or business name, your design or your likeness without permission, email support@picklink.shop with the subject “IP concern”. You can also write to Pickl Ink, 3042 Lake Barkley Rd, Henderson, NV 89052, US. Please include:

1. Your name, contact details and your relationship to the rights owner.
2. The right concerned: for example a trademark registration number and country, a description of the design, or the name being used.
3. The URL of each product or page, and what on it you are concerned about.
4. A short explanation of why you believe the use is not allowed.
5. A statement that the information you give is accurate.

For a copyright claim about artwork, photos or text, please use the six-element notice on our DMCA page, which follows the process set by U.S. law.

7. What happens after you report

Your email gets a reply within 24 hours on business days, the same as any other message to our support address, confirming that we have it. We then look at each URL you listed. If we need more detail, such as proof of a registration or a clearer description of the mark, we ask before deciding. If the concern is valid, we remove or change the product, picture or text, and we write to tell you what we did. If we disagree, we explain why in writing. The time a review takes depends on how complete the report is.

8. Ideas, photos and feedback

If you send us an idea for a design or a new item, we may use it without payment or credit, so please do not send anything you want to keep to yourself. Photos you send with a problem report are used only to sort that problem and are deleted 30 days after delivery. We do not publish your photos, your name or your club’s name without your permission.

If your club sends us a team photo in its Pickl Ink shirts and we would like to show it on the site, we will ask first, in writing, and say exactly where it would appear. You can say no, or say yes and change your mind later by emailing us. Your club’s name stays your club’s name either way; showing it on our site never gives us any claim to it.

9. Questions and contact

For permission requests, IP concerns or questions about this policy, email support@picklink.shop. Day-to-day order questions are answered faster through the Help Center, the FAQs or Submit a Ticket. This policy is governed by the law of Nevada, as set out in our Terms of Service.