wickedstangs

Copyright / Trademark Question?

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post-5398-0-39981500-1402863569_thumb.pn

 

Below is what I found on the above logo.

Team Fundraising
Teams are encouraged to think of creative ways to raise funds to help reduce the cost to players for team expenses.
The Rebels Soccer Club logo is copyright protected and is not allowed to be used for any team fundraising. This includes
fundraising flyers,sweatshirts, t-shirts or any other memorabilia that might include the Club logo.

 

 

My son plays for the Rebels Soccer Team and I made a shirt for my daughter using the font from dafont.com is this a no no? It not for sale just made one for my daughter

 

http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=ethnocentric&text=REBELS+Soccer

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I read this not sure?

 

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#title

How do I copyright a name, title, slogan, or logo?
Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.

 

 

 

 

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I think this answered my question..

 

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120419183451AAHlmOJ

 

Copyright infringement? can i make a shirt with my fav sports team logo?
 
question pretty much asks it all....can i make a shirt using the logo of my favorite sports team, using there logo, but my own design and layout?
 
 
Best AnswerAsker's Choice
Technically, it's a copyright violation. If you base your work on someone else's work, and don't get permission from the copyright holder, then it's an infringement.

Realistically, many teams love to see fan creations, as long as those creations are not sold. So if you wear the shirt yourself, then usually they'll wink at it. If you start selling those shirts, or even making up a lot of them to give away, then you can expect lawyers to take notice. Sports teams make money from selling tickets, yes...but they also make a LOT of their money from branded merchandise. For instance, I have a jar of pickles in my fridge right now that claims to be the official pickle of a certain well-known football team. I didn't buy the pickles because they're the official brand, but you can bet the pickle makers paid a lot of money to put that logo on their jar.

Your best bet is to just buy one of the official team shirts.

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I wish I had a dollar for every sports team in this country that called itself the Rebels.

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I'm certainly no authority on copyright or trademark law but I have done some research including physically talking to a couple attorneys and an official licensing authority. Copyright protection protects certain things and trademark protects other things. Without going into all the bloody details, the college licensing people I talked to told me (I was asking if I could get permission to make my daughter a sweatshirt with the College logo) that if I possessed the ability to make my own for myself then I wasn't breaking any laws. Now if I was going to sell them that would be a different story. Also giving them away may be construed to be "diluting" the market which is one of the provisions within trademark protection so there is even some potential trademark infringement by giving away copies but it is a more ambiguous statement and I think they would have to prove the value of damages which for a sweatshirt are pretty much non existent. The college did ask politely that I follow the constraints they had set up for use of the logo so as to keep the brand in control, which I did out of respect. 

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The only thing I see they changed from the font is the L and S they combined them.   What if I make the same logo except without the combining of the L and S can I still get in trouble?  It will look different:)

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Copyright probably not but trademark can protect the look of fonts and all sorts of things. Bottom line is whether or not you are going to be selling them for any reason including a fund raiser. Copyright does protect anything that is even inspired by the original or that may confuse a customer into thinking that they are buying an original. 

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Copyright probably not but trademark can protect the look of fonts and all sorts of things. Bottom line is whether or not you are going to be selling them for any reason including a fund raiser. Copyright does protect anything that is even inspired by the original or that may confuse a customer into thinking that they are buying an original. 

Not going to sell them just made one for daughter and was going to make another for wife and I and don't want any issues.  Reason I asked about the font is because, if I leave the font alone and just use it the way it is and instead of joining the L and S can they give me problems..

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Is it infringement? Probably.

 

Will anyone say anything? Probably not if it's just 2 shirts. Just not worth it to them.

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The three intellectual property attorneys in this thread agreed and the fourth estate planning half way agreed that you will be covered under fair use on making your own shirt. Can't hire someone to do it for you. This is the same exact advice that I got from an attorney friend who has kids that play on the same team as mine. (I asked him for some pro-bono advice last year)

 

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-legally-use-a-trademarked-college-logo-on-a--1487256.html

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The three intellectual property attorneys in this thread agreed and the fourth estate planning half way agreed that you will be covered under fair use on making your own shirt. Can't hire someone to do it for you. This is the same exact advice that I got from an attorney friend who has kids that play on the same team as mine. (I asked him for some pro-bono advice last year)

 

http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-legally-use-a-trademarked-college-logo-on-a--1487256.html

Wow, very nice post Thank You.. Make me wonder now.. What if I design a better logo than the above? Its my logo and my design can it still be an infringement to trademark? Still not for sell just my personal use..

 

Just like BANNER JOHN said..

I wish I had a dollar for every sports team in this country that called itself the Rebels.

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