Re: Drawings similar to well known products. Copyright problems?
On Mon, Jan 10, 2005 at 06:51:32PM -0500, Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote:
> There may be trademark problems. For example, Duracell may have a
> consider the orange-and-black battery to be trade dress; my
> understanding of trademark law is quite limited, but I don't think it
> applies to pictures of the trade dress in a different form.
It's also got the plus sign. That's quite clearly intended to be a
Duracel battery. The lighter is clearly a Bic lighter, but other
lighters look similar to that.
It's pretty clear what the intent was -- those are intended to
represents specific brands. I have no idea if that's permitted or not.
As for the smiley face I've googled it and Wal Mart now owns the
"oval-eyed/curvey-mouthed" "ur-smiley-face" that we all think of. I
*think* it's okay to draw a smiley face as long as it's distinctly
different, just as it's okay to draw a blue battery or a zippo-looking
lighter which has a different number of wind vent slits -- as long as
you make an effort to distinguish it from the specific brand.
I don't think anybody would sue you unless they wanted to.
If you used it to Defame the brand-holder I think the judge would have a
case. It has to do with "intent."
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