You can place someone else's logo on your site if you have permission from the copyright holder or if you cite the logo for non-commercial purposes. If you do it for commercial purposes or without asking permission, the copyright holder can claim two compensations at once.
What rights can be violated if you put someone else's logo on your site
To most people, a logo is just a picture that a company uses for its products. But in fact, a logo is two objects of intellectual property at once: a work and a trademark. Lawyers call such a case a double legal nature.
Work is the result of creative work. If someone draws a picture, it is protected by law. It doesn't matter if it's a watercolor painting or a logo for a burger joint. Both are copyrighted objects. They have a copyright holder who owns the exclusive right to the work.
A trademark is a designation registered in a patent. As a rule, these are names and pictures. Entrepreneurs register marks to distinguish their companies and products on the market. Without the permission of the right holder, his competitors are not allowed to use the same or too similar designations.
It turns out, if you publish someone else's logo on your site without asking, you can violate copyright and trademark rights - it depends on the specifics of the case.
For infringement of the exclusive right to work, the right holder may recover compensation from the infringer through the court. The amount of compensation for unlawful use of a trademark is the same.
When you can use other people's logos
Whether you can use someone else's logo depends on how and for what you do it: for non-commercial purposes or for your business.
You are quoting the logo in a non-commercial publication.
Let's say you're a designer and you're writing a personal blog about different styles of logo design. In your articles, you give an example of a dozen famous logos. This way you can use them.
People usually think you can only quote text, but that's not true. You can quote pictures, videos, audio, anything you want.
Here are the rules for legitimate citation:
- Enter the author's name.
- Cite the source of the citation.
- Do not make any changes to the object.
- The size of the quotation must be justified by the purpose of the quotation.
- The quote is not used for commercial purposes, but for other purposes: scientific, educational, cultural, critical, or simply informational.
These are general rules, and in the case of logos, there are nuances. For example, the name of the author of the logo is usually unknown, and you can only indicate the company to which the logo belongs. There is also a nuance with the size of the quote: you can copy the entire logo - the law does not prohibit this. But it turns out a little strange because the citation fully reproduces the work.
In practice, there are virtually no disputes in such cases. Usually, copyright holders are outraged when someone misrepresents their logos or tries to make money from using them. If it is simply a reference in an article and all the rules of citation are observed, there is no violation, and it is unlikely that anyone will decide to prove otherwise.
You use the logo in business with the consent of the copyright holder.
If you plan to use someone else's logo in your business, you need to get permission from the copyright holder.
For example, you signed a contract with a company to create a flyer and downloaded a logo from the logos site. In this contract, you should specify that the partner gives you the right to use his trademark on the site and in advertising. You can write it like this:
"The contractor has the right to publish a story about the creation of the work in the portfolio on his website and in social networks. The Client authorizes the Contractor to accompany such a publication with a mention of the Client's name, links to the Client's website and pages in social networks, and to reproduce in such a publication the Client's logos: registered trademarks and other designations used by the Client on its websites at the time the portfolio is published.”
Such wording would be suitable for any contract.
Regardless of what you list on your business card site - selling your services or autobiography - get approval from partners before placing logos.
What to do if the client does not want to execute the consent, but does not object to the placement of the logo
If the client does not forbid the use of his logo but does not consent, then it is most reliable not to put the logo on the site. But there are situations where there is no written agreement, but you really want to post the case.
Let's say you signed an agreement with a client a long time ago, and there was nothing about logos. Now it's a bit awkward to ask them to sign a separate agreement: there's a big company on the other side, and it's awkward to distract them with such little things, and the approval may take too long.
In this case, you can send an email to the head of the company and explain the situation: I have such a site, we worked with you then, do you mind if I place the case of our project in the portfolio, a draft case attached. Most likely, the manager will allow it.
It is unlikely that anyone would think of suing you after such an agreement. And if they do, it begs the question: how can one consider the actions of a person who first allowed the publication to be posted and then sued you in good faith? If the court sees such actions as an abuse of rights, it will deny the claim.
When punished for using other people's logos
If an ordinary person has violated the rules for citing a logo on his personal page on the social network, it is unlikely that they will come to him with a lawsuit. Most likely, the copyright holder's lawyers will simply write a complaint to technical support, the moderator will delete the disputed publication, and the matter will be closed.
It is different when the rights are violated by an entrepreneur or even an entire company. They are easier to find, and more serious compensation is recovered from them. Almost all court disputes over logos are business-related. Here are some examples.
An entrepreneur publishes his clients' logos on the site without obtaining their consent.
For example, there is a site with a "Portfolio" or "Clients" section. In this section, the logos of its customers are published. Almost everyone does this, but there is a nuance.
Even a well-done job does not give you the right to use the client's logo on your site. Of course, a satisfied client is unlikely to be offended by the publication of his logo in the portfolio and go to court.
But what happens if the client is dissatisfied? Or if the performer and the client argue and the client tells his lawyers to hurt the entrepreneur in any way? Then the performer will know that using the copyrighted object without permission is an infringement. Maybe it won't go to court, but they will definitely send a claim.
To avoid this situation, there are two options:
- Write the names of customers on your site in text, rather than copying a graphic logo;
- explicitly state in the contracts with the client that he allows the use of his logo in the portfolio on various sites and social networks.
The contractor publishes in his portfolio logos of companies with which he has never actually worked.
When a designer-entrepreneur has just started his business, a difficult situation arises: clients ask to see his portfolio, but there's nothing to show. There is a temptation to put a battery of logos of famous companies on the site in the vein of "I've worked with them". Some people succumb to this temptation.
An entrepreneur can reason like this: "My clients will never check it out, and that company is big, they don't care. And how will they ever find out about me? And if they do, what will they do?
Indeed, it is a difficult and non-trivial task to punish a portfolio fraudster for some ephemeral harm to business reputation. It is like with the recovery of moral damage: money is collected little, but it takes a long time to sue. If people go to such courts, it is not so much for the money, but rather out of principle.
It's a bit like copyright protection. Compensation is determined by the court depending on the nature of the infringement. And the judge will definitely pay attention to the fact that the entrepreneur at least:
- used someone else's logo intentionally;
- used it for commercial purposes;
- not just once, but on the Internet for months at a time;
- used the logo to deceive people.
"How will they know?" - the deceiver may be asked. The answer is simple: lawyers are people too. They can get to the site by accident, an ad on the Internet can pop up, and sometimes just acquaintances can write in a personal note: "Oh, and here's someone who writes that he worked with you. He's lying, isn't he?"
The designer quit his job and started a website with a portfolio.
It could be that a designer worked for a company, had a fight with management, and quit. In order to find clients, the designer creates a website, where he publishes the work created at his former workplace. In this case, the former employee is the offender.
The fact is that he drew these logos on work assignments. He had an employment contract, and it was his responsibility to create these works. That's what the designer was paid for.
In such cases, the works are considered service works. According to the law, the exclusive right to the work belongs to the employer. It is not allowed to use the work without the permission of the copyright holder. In this case, it does not matter that the real author is a dismissed employee. There is a person who owns the right, and there is a person who does not have that right.
If an employee has not received written permission from his employer to use the work, he may not use it. Compensation is charged to offending authors under the same article as to ordinary offenders.
The entrepreneur uses other people's logos on his products.
Without the permission of the right holder, it is impossible to use his mark on goods and in advertising. Not only the sale of goods but also the fact of offering goods for sale using someone else's trademark is considered an infringement.
In such a case, a claim can be made for infringement of the work and the trademark. There is one product, but there are two infringements, and two claims for compensation can be made, as I mentioned above.
This is best seen in the courts for cartoon characters. For example, the Spider-Man character from "The Avengers" is registered as a trademark. When an infringer sells some backpack with Spider-Man on it, he may face two claims at once: one on copyright and one on trademarks.
It does not matter whether the entrepreneur knew that the logo was registered as a trademark or not. Courts believe that entrepreneurs must exercise due care and diligence and check what designations they use in business and whether they violate the rights of others.
What's the bottom line
Logos can be quoted in non-commercial publications - it is not a violation.
If you're going to use someone else's logo on your worksite, get written consent from the copyright holder.
Illegal use of someone else's logo can simultaneously violate both copyright and trademark rights.
Top comments (1)
Really a lot of people should read this article. We see many violations of this type.