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Can I copyright a design that I saw elsewhere if it's not already copyrighted by somebody else?

I attended a large university. People walked down the residence hallways selling t-shirts out of duffel bags. A shirt I bought 20 years ago was beat up and it was a nice design so I had some made by a local t-shirt shop. My sister made the template from my description. I listed them on eBay. During the auction I received a message saying my design was copied and the auction would be shut down by eBay. It never was (auction ended today) and I told the guy I saw the design 20 years ago. It's such a cool design that I'd like to copyright it. If he has been selling the shirts already does that make him exempt from copyright or does it prevent me from copyrighting it? Do I have to sign something saying it was an original design of mine. I see this as similar to 3-peat. People used the word all the time and then Pat Riley decided to copyright it. Now he has to be paid if it's used in print by anybody. Is my t-shirt idea the same thing? Thank you Yahoo! Answers!

Public Comments

1. maybe you can check on www.reference.com about copywrite laws. other than that, i don't have any other bright ideas. i hope all goes well and you make alot of money off of your shirts!
2. chances are if he/she didn't copyright it yet, you can as long as no one do it before you. At least you should try to copyright it.
3. I think it is kinda like a first come first serve basis. I live near Columbus Ohio and not to long ago our zoo changed their name. The morning the new name was announced in the media a local man bought the rights to that web name, and the zoo legally could not do anything about it. I'm thinking copyrighting your t-shirts should be the same thing. The first person to do it gets it. That and I have heard a lot of stories about people stealing other peoples ideas/images/products whatever and having them copyrighted. Then the original person can do nothing about it. I say you should hurry and do it!