A PRINTING business has cried foul after being tackled by a footballing giant with a “thug mentality” which keeps trademark legislation very close to its heart.

Noel Ferris, who runs Urban Prints in the Market Hall, the Shambles, Worcester, has found himself in a real David versus Goliath tie with the Premier League, after England’s top division targeted his range of £12 ‘I heart’ T-shirt designs featuring the names of clubs like Arsenal and Everton.

Mr Ferris said intellectual property protection company Net Result sent him a notice of trademark infringement and a cease-and-desist order on behalf of the league on Wednesday – despite the items not being their most popular products and the store not passing them off as official clothing for fans.

He said: “It seems completely ridiculous, a big organisation like the Premier League threatening a small place in Worcester for just printing words.” A report by financial services giants Deloitte reported that in 2010/11, the Premier League generated more than £2.1 billion of revenue – the equivalent of selling more than 170 million of the Urban Prints’ T-shirts.

“It seems like a money-grabbing, nasty attitude, especially in these economic times,” said Mr Ferris.

“I am not using any graphics and we aren’t trying to deceive anyone into believing they are buying an official product. They have a bullying mentality and a thug mentality.”

Mr Ferris, who has run the custom-printed clothing business for almost three years and the website for about a year, has offered to put a disclaimer online saying his business is not affiliated with the clubs and they are not official products.

But he is now unsure what he can safely print and is concerned customers may need to be instructed to check ownership of intellectual property before ordering a wide range of designs that can feature names of everything from places to food and celebrities.

“I don’t know how we are supposed to approach things,” Mr Ferris said.

“There’s such an ambiguity about what can and can’t be done. We never print anything knowingly that has any trademark infringement.”

A Premier League spokesman said: “The Premier League runs an anti-counterfeiting programme to protect the trademarks registered by the league and its clubs.

“We are committed to intellectual property protection as the legitimate use of our trademarks is part of what generates revenues for the league and clubs that benefit English professional football, local communities across the country and the taxman.”