Trademarks etc

DrGed

DrGed

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Ged
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I realise that if you wish to sell a photo of a person, then you need a signed model release form. However, what happens if you want to sell a picture of an object that has a trademark visible on it? I guess this must happen a lot in motorsport where cars and bikes are covered in logos etc.

What's the legal position?
 
Editorial usage should be no issue. Newspapers, textbooks etc

Advertising / commercial endorsement usage unlikely due to the trademarks as you indicate above.
 
Thanks, Mike.

I must admit I hadn't thought about editorial usage : the type of thing I meant was, say, I shoot a saloon car racing event and get a spectacular shot of one of the cars. Can I sell prints of it if something like BMW, or the Audi symbol, is clearly visible?
 
Lots and lots of people seem to....

As long as you are not using trademarked logos in an advertising sense where endorsement might be an issue then I think you'll be fine.
 
DrGed said:
I realise that if you wish to sell a photo of a person, then you need a signed model release form. However, what happens if you want to sell a picture of an object that has a trademark visible on it? I guess this must happen a lot in motorsport where cars and bikes are covered in logos etc.

What's the legal position?
Click to expand...

Well, Trademark is not really a case of "No, you can't take photos of our logo!"

Trademark is really a case of "No, you can't use our company name for your productions, make up your own names and don't try to copy ours!" as well as a case of "Our company name had nothing to do with whatever you're doing, so don't show our brand name as a placement name!"

For example: It would be okay to take a photo of your car's badage, say Ford logo, and display it as a wallpaper on your own computer, but...

You can't create a gaming software and decided to call theose 3D cars in your game 'Ford' so you either ask Ford for permissions or make up your own names.

Or that, if you are taking a photo of a semi-naked model on a car hood, then fine, but if the photos shows the Ford badge and the photo ends up as Page 3, Ford won't like it. (Supposing Ford don't like people thinking Ford support Page 3, so Ford must protect their name by taking you to court for damages to the company name.)

Well, that is how I see it considering it needs more indepth research, but that's how I understand it.
 
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