Copyright question.....

[Anthony Scira]

Ok here is one for you guys.

I am doing some bottles of wine for a College. I was thinking of offering up to do some wine glasses with the school logo.

How does that work. Do I have to contact the school first to use the logo. Or is having a rep from the school order the glasses "permission" to use the logo good enough.

To take it one step further. What happens if a student wants the school logo put on his laptop ?

Am I in violation of copyright if I do the work. Or just if I advertise with the logo ?

I am sure someone here has run up against this :)

[Mike Page]

I believe you will need permission for each Item.
If you get to use a logo for a product you can use it for that item only.

[R. A. Mitchell]

The college owns the intellectual property rights to the logo. They can give you permission to use it (a license), but the permission is usually narrow. They can take legal action against you for any use of their logo for which you make a profit without their permission.

If a representative of the college orders a job from you using the college's logo, then you are OK. You are using artwork that the customer owns. However, if a student wants a college logo on something, that would be an infringement of the college's IP rights. Same set up for things like Harley Davidson logos. If you use them for work that a Harley Davidson dealer orders and then resells, Harley won't bother you. If you do it independently, they come after you quickly.

[Lisa Griffiths]

The college owns the intellectual property rights to the logo. They can give you permission to use it (a license), but the permission is usually narrow. They can take legal action against you for any use of their logo for which you make a profit without their permission.

If a representative of the college orders a job from you using the college's logo, then you are OK. You are using artwork that the customer owns. However, if a student wants a college logo on something, that would be an infringement of the college's IP rights. Same set up for things like Harley Davidson logos. If you use them for work that a Harley Davidson dealer orders and then resells, Harley won't bother you. If you do it independently, they come after you quickly.
Does anyone know if it is infringement to just give something away using a college or other trademarked name or is it just infringement when you make a profit from it without having permission?

[Richard Rumancik]

Lisa, I am not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that if you have a business, then generally the purpose of giving away free items is for promotional purposes. So even if you have not profited directly, it could be argued that you are generating "goodwill" toward your business using their copyright. So if I made Harley Davidson or Coca Cola items and gave them away to promote my company I expect that they could still consider it infringement.

[Dan Hintz]

Does anyone know if it is infringement to just give something away using a college or other trademarked name or is it just infringement when you make a profit from it without having permission?
Use of the logo, for any non-official purpose, is typically prohibited.

[Richard Rumancik]

Anthony, you might want to read Tom Bernard's recent comments in a thread entitled "LaserBuzz- great service". He gives some insight into licencing and permissions.

In my opinion, (and I am not giving legal advice here) if I had a "rep" agree in writing to make an item then I would consider that to be permission. (What is the worst thing that could likely happen? The rep is told that he can't do that anymore. I don't know how they could involve you if you have permission and an order.)

It could probably be argued that an order is in effect permission on it's own. Promotional products reps order items all the time with customer's logos on it; the manufacturer of the item assumes that the promotional products rep has appropriate authorization or an order from the customer.

If you actually try to get an official licence, it may take a lot of time and effort, and as Tom said, probably some money. Permission is free. If I were doing it I would try to get permission and not draw a lot of attention to it.

If you try to do your OWN product on speculation, then that is a different situation. It would be better to get them to order them - maybe you would have to agree to take back unsold items to make them comfortable.

[Mark Winlund]

The college owns the intellectual property rights to the logo. They can give you permission to use it (a license), but the permission is usually narrow. They can take legal action against you for any use of their logo for which you make a profit without their permission.

If a representative of the college orders a job from you using the college's logo, then you are OK. You are using artwork that the customer owns. However, if a student wants a college logo on something, that would be an infringement of the college's IP rights. Same set up for things like Harley Davidson logos. If you use them for work that a Harley Davidson dealer orders and then resells, Harley won't bother you. If you do it independently, they come after you quickly.

You have it exactly right. We do a lot of work for the local university. We never sell or give anything with their logo to individuals. We have never have a problem with the trademark office. Years ago, when they decided that they wanted to turn it into a profit center, they started to charge us 6% of the gross of those items bearing their logo. I started to charge (and itemize) a 10% "fee" each time I did work for the university. They (the trademark office) left me alone after that. (University politics can be a wonderful thing sometimes!)