| |  | | | kirkland | 09-04-2021 04:26 PM | IP, trademarks, and marketing Let's say I want to sell non-branded items for a branded company. Apple, Sega, whoever. They can be generic, private label, etc, and the products themselves dont infringe on any IP, whether it be logo, trade dress, configuration trademarks, etc.
Let's now say you're designing a website, an listing for your Amazon store, a banner for your ebay store, etc. Again, for your strictly generic items. Can you use marketing material involving photos of the company, their items, etc? Is there some "fair use" clause that allows for this? A disclaimer where you claim "all trademarks are property of xyz" etc?
For example, lets say you want to sell skins for MacBook (with the American flag or whatever you want). Can I have a banner at the top of my page with MacBooks? The apple logo? Etc
Or, as totally different example, lets say youre selling secondhand games, like Gamestop does. Can I use banners of Mario, Luigi, etc, pictures of the consoles, as banners at the top of my page (Mario in the banner on a Nintendo listing, Sonic in the banner of a Sega listing, etc). Jw from others who've done (or thought of) doing similar. |
| slokor | 09-04-2021 05:22 PM | Re: IP, trademarks, and marketing I doubt it. I dont see how any company will allow you to use their name in any way shape or form when your business interferes with them selling their branded items. Make no mistake about it - thats EXACTLY what youre doing.
Gamestop have permission to use the logos and brand names from the parent companies which is why they can do things the way they do them. |
| solefoodbk | 09-04-2021 05:23 PM | Re: IP, trademarks, and marketing Quote:
Originally Posted by kirkland
(Post 1168835)
Let's say I want to sell non-branded items for a branded company. Apple, Sega, whoever. They can be generic, private label, etc, and the products themselves dont infringe on any IP, whether it be logo, trade dress, configuration trademarks, etc.
Let's now say you're designing a website, an listing for your Amazon store, a banner for your ebay store, etc. Again, for your strictly generic items. Can you use marketing material involving photos of the company, their items, etc? Is there some "fair use" clause that allows for this? A disclaimer where you claim "all trademarks are property of xyz" etc?
For example, lets say you want to sell skins for MacBook (with the American flag or whatever you want). Can I have a banner at the top of my page with MacBooks? The apple logo? Etc
Or, as totally different example, lets say youre selling secondhand games, like Gamestop does. Can I use banners of Mario, Luigi, etc, pictures of the consoles, as banners at the top of my page (Mario in the banner on a Nintendo listing, Sonic in the banner of a Sega listing, etc). Jw from others who've done (or thought of) doing similar. | From my own experience there is no black & white rule for this in terms of listing items. It is ultimately up to the sole discretion of the brand. I have had trademark disputes filed against me where they actually used completely different trademark registrations as evidence to take down my listings.
Even with that clear proof it did not matter. These platforms work off the notion that once a trademark claim is filed you need that brand to redact the claim. If they don't do it, and continue to flag you, you will get suspended.
With that said, using your example I highly doubt you will face any issue. It would be brand dependent though. Technically speaking there is no such fair use. If you are using another brand on your website they have the ability to at the very least attempt to prevent you from doing so.
Example, if you had your brand and someone else had your products on their website and you happened to not like their website for whatever reason and didn't want to be associated with them, you would be justified in getting that taken down.
It could be argued in court you are profiting off using their brand. If it went to that extreme. Again, extremely unlikely. You would need to be extremely successful to have a potential issue, imo. | | All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:54 AM. | |
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