You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.
Hello Jean,
I am a partner in a small market research company. We are currently developing a new website and that’s raised two legal questions: 1) Is it legal to use a client’s logo on our site if we’ve done business with them in the past? If permission is required, who grants that permission? 2) Can we legally put pictures taken inside a retail store on our site? There are no identifiable brands/labels in the photos, but it is obvious where the photo was taken.
Thanks!
Luke
Dear Luke,
You can always use a company’s trademark to identify that company. No permission is required. Just be careful about using someone else’s trademark to promote your own work. For example, I wouldn’t put anyone else’s mark on your home page.
As far as the photos are concerned, if you took the pictures or own them, I don’t anticipate a problem. Be careful about crossing the line, though, between illustration and the use of the store’s (implicit) name to promote your own business. Doing the latter could prove problematic.
Best,
Jean
Hi Jean,
A customer is being featured in a trade magazine. As their supplier we are placing an ad to accompany that feature. The ad will say that we are a “Proud supplier to… and then I would like to insert a small version of their logo”.
From what you’ve said, that is not allowed without permission because it’s promoting my company. Is that right?
What about just putting the name of the customer, without the logo itself, would that be OK?
Thanks for the help,
Mike