This is untrue. Genericisation applies to trademarks, not copyright. Copyright can be selectively litigated with no adverse consequences to the copyright holder (other than incidental consequences, like people not being afraid of the copyright holder). This is one of the downsides of using the term "intellectual property" as if the various laws were all the same.
You are correct that genericization is a term of art referencing a formal concept applying only to trademarks. However, the statement that unlitigated general use can never become an issue for copyright holders is simply not correct. Particularly at common law, there are situations in which this is relevant, for example where licensed derivative works have been insufficiently or improperly documented. Of course, we are primarily discussing statutory copyrights and, also of course, such exceptions are unlikely to apply. But the point remains that it is in a corporation's best interests to pursue copyright claims much as it does trademark claims, and many companies do so. Nintendo, in particular, has a stated and demonstrated corporate policy of doing this.
In any case, for any small-time Internet user, the main concern isn't whether something is illegal, it's whether you're prepared to defend yourself when somebody claims it's illegal. The risk of distributing shirts through the Internet should be fairly low though. At worst, the loss would probably be the time already invested into selling the shirts.
I completely agree with this, and I said as much earlier. No matter how carefully-vetted the design, by experts far more experienced than I, there is a reasonable probability that Nintendo will attempt to intervene. Even a certain victory would be costly and time-consuming for Smogon. That is why I suggested plain-text "Smogon University" paraphernalia. The use of a single, unregistered, foreign word, out of context and with no protected images, is far less likely to draw attention.
However, I would say your best bet if you want a shirt related to Smogon would be to use one of the many online services that allow you to order a shirt with an arbitrary picture on it. Perhaps we could provide some designs that you could use in conjunction with such a service.
I can't really disagree with this. Such sites typically produce poorer-quality merchandise than those offering bulk orders, but this method certainly poses less risk of legal action. If anyone actually gets sued, I can assure you that my pro bono services will stop there! ha ha. But seriously, this would be a much simpler approach if those of you expressing interest in "Smogon Merch" would be happy with it.
