Anyone knows anything about copyright issues?
Discussion
sat1983 said:
Trying to work out whats "allowed" without breaching copyright. Take a random- stupid- example:
Say I've framed a tube of Colgate toothpaste. And underneath it I've put "Colgate toothpaste 2016" is this breaching copyright? Could I print their logo or is that a no-no?
No, copyright doesn't apply in that situation.Say I've framed a tube of Colgate toothpaste. And underneath it I've put "Colgate toothpaste 2016" is this breaching copyright? Could I print their logo or is that a no-no?
The logo is protected in trademark law, but requires passing-off. If you used the actual product in a work of art it would be the original product so again no passing-off.
sat1983 said:
So I cannot print the logo underneath the product?
When I used the 'no', I mean that it not copyright that applies, it is trademarks, which are different things covered by different laws.If the product is original, there would be no passing off, so you would be ok. What you describe seems to fall into 'Nominative' fair use'. Basically the purpose for using the logo is to actually identify the product as genuine then you are ok.
A claim of trademark infringement would be a civil matter and the trademark owner must inform you of the grounds for objecting to you using it. However them objecting would not make it criminal.
Lets assume for a moment the product was defective, and you were illustrating that. They could object but it could still be considered legitimate use.
Edited by 4x4Tyke on Saturday 23 January 09:56
4x4Tyke said:
sat1983 said:
Trying to work out whats "allowed" without breaching copyright. Take a random- stupid- example:
Say I've framed a tube of Colgate toothpaste. And underneath it I've put "Colgate toothpaste 2016" is this breaching copyright? Could I print their logo or is that a no-no?
No, copyright doesn't apply in that situation.Say I've framed a tube of Colgate toothpaste. And underneath it I've put "Colgate toothpaste 2016" is this breaching copyright? Could I print their logo or is that a no-no?
The logo is protected in trademark law, but requires passing-off. If you used the actual product in a work of art it would be the original product so again no passing-off.
If you frame a tube of Colgate toothpaste and write "Colgate toothpaste 2016" underneath it, you've done nothing wrong.
If you copy the Colgate logo and replace the handwriting with the logo, potentially you have infringed copyright in the logo. "Potentially" because (a) the copyright in the logo might have expired (unlikely) and (b) you are probably not going to be able to make use of the incidental inclusion defence under s 31 of CDPA 1988.
Trademarks are registered in respect of specific goods and services. If Colgate - either the word or logo - were registered in respect of works of art, you'd be infringing the trademark.
Passing off is different to trademark infringement. In passing off the mark isn't registered. The essence of it is that you are wrongly trading off the goodwill of the mark by misrepresentation. I think it would be a stretch to say what you've described (which sounds similar to an Andy Warhol Heinz image) represents some connection back to Colgate.
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