altering big company logos for website logo use?
- Thread starter t3c1992
- Start date
If you plan to use this technique, the only question that needs asking is - Would you like KY with that? Or do you prefer going dry?
I would like a more serious answer please. If I altered the logo enough could I use it for my own? and no not to sell apple products just mainly an apple blog.
bananaman5000
Regular Member
- Mar 5, 2010
- 201
- 130
i would not do that, just pay someone on fiverr to make you one
Lazlo1967
Junior Member
- Aug 15, 2012
- 198
- 55
If it's even anywhere close you are going up against their lawyers. The standard is whether the average person might mistake it for the real logo with a quick glance and whether you are basically misappropriating it (which it appears is the case).
Why do you want to do this?
Why do you want to do this?
- Mar 28, 2008
- 4,476
- 57,707
If you were called out by the company in question, it would depend
on how different the logo was from the original and would be brought
to court for a judge's decision in the same way that a plagiarized
song would be brought into litigation.
Unless, you have BIG money to fight the giants in court, I would
just forget it and walk away.
"Wiz"
PS: I moved this thread to the Black Hat Lounge.
on how different the logo was from the original and would be brought
to court for a judge's decision in the same way that a plagiarized
song would be brought into litigation.
Unless, you have BIG money to fight the giants in court, I would
just forget it and walk away.
"Wiz"
PS: I moved this thread to the Black Hat Lounge.
roamer
Power Member
- Dec 2, 2008
- 500
- 481
The only way to do that is if your site is intended as a parody, and you make it REALLY clear. Any other use that can be (mis)construed as taking advantage of the brand, or dilluting it or infringing upon it, or you name it, and you're toast.
For urls. if the name is available then you probably can use it, because there's no copyright on words from a dictionary. my name is sun and if I want to use Apple in my url I could, example: sungreatappledotcom or whatever --- however, Logos are trademarked and copyrighted and if some one other than the copyright holder uses it, then it's in an infringement with steep penalties/fines.
roamer
Power Member
- Dec 2, 2008
- 500
- 481
Short answer: NO. Slightly longer answer: Not worth it, don't try it.
Your example is valid only if your website does not mention apple's products, ie. it's a personal blog or it's about, say, apple pies. And this is just about a brand which is also a generic name. What about facebook? no, you can't use it. FacebookTop10 dot com? no can do, even if your website is about, uhm, horses.
Outside fair use is dangerous, especially if you plan on using the logo to leech off some traffic and business for your own gain. In any case, you can't really take the logo and modify it, you should start from scratch, but this is less enforceable...
Actually no. I can't. I just can't.
If you are that naive to even ask this question, you do not belong on this forum. I would suggest a Warrior Forum membership may be more at your level.
Apple's tradmark copyright page is 1959 words long, the TL;DR of which is 'if you misuse our stuff or even stuff that vaguely looks like our stuff, we own your arse' ... perhaps this might have been a better resource to spend your time on instead of asking noobish questions.
Has commons sense on this forum nose dived in the last 6 months or so? Stealing stuff is not blackhat ... it is just laziness.
Edit - if you do want to, um "borrow" someone's intellectual property, perhaps pick a company that would not want to sue you into oblivion with a massive legal dept for a bit of fun before breakfast.
Ok, rant over.
CaseAndPoint
Junior Member
- Mar 21, 2010
- 101
- 30
To put it simply, if it looks similar enough for them to think you copied it, and if you get big enough, then you will have a problem, remember, it's not really what is "technically" legal, its what you can afford to pay to defend your case in court, so best to avoid that in general.