Student entrepreneurs were forced to close down their business this month for copyright infringement. The student run business 5-4-1 created and sold shirts bearing the slogan “Keep Calm and Win the Day” which were just starting to take off – until Nike stepped in.

The business was on its third shipment with online customers as far away as Maine and Hawaii when Nike called. “We did look up copyright, trademark, on ‘Win the Day’ to see what existed,” said 5-4-1 managing partner Phillip Campbell. “We didn’t do all of our research as intense as we should have.”

On October second, Nike copyrighted the phrase “Win The Day” and gave the partners at 5-4-1 a quick call. “We had to shut down our Facebook and everything online by the end of the day or she was going to send us an official letter,” said 5-4-1 co-managing partner Alex Huinh.

In light of this event, Public Relations Professor John Mitchell offered some words for budding entrepreneurs. “My advice would be, be creative and be completely different. They’re watching for violations probably more than they ever have.”