Game Logo Use (No Design)

[ditship]

Its probably okay, legally speaking, to use the game logos to list the 3 games in your shirt designs.

Using Mac's design as an example, using the TF2 crosshair logo thing on the front with the SF probably wouldn't work, but the list of games on the back should be fine.

The Lanham Act permits a non-owner of a registered trademark to make "fair use" or "nominative use" of a trademark under certain circumstances without obtaining permission from the mark's owner. The fair use and nominative use defenses are to help ensure that trademark owners do not prohibit the use of their marks when they are used for the purpose of description or identification. Fair use or nominative use may be recognized in those instances where a reader of a given work is clearly able to understand that the use of the trademark does not suggest sponsorship or association with the trademark owner's product or services and therefore is not being used in a manner to confuse the reader. - http://www.publaw.com/fairusetrade.html

[ikem1223]

so like i used in mine, is that legal. all i did was trace over it and cut away the black. but it looks exactly (or close enough) to the originals thanks for the info though

[CodeZero]

Yeah, your thing should be ok Ikem.

Here's from Valve's site:

Valve, the Valve logo, Half-Life, the Half-Life logo, the Lambda logo, Steam, the Steam logo, Team Fortress, the Team Fortress logo, Opposing Force, Day of Defeat, the Day of Defeat logo, Counter-Strike, the Counter-Strike logo, Source, the Source logo, and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

I personally thing utilizing the names of their properties and maybe even the fonts are against copyright law but that's up to the SF staff to decide if they want to go for it or not. I just don't want to see anyone get sued or anything.

*Update*: On the font/typeface, using the font in a design is not copyrighted... so I could use the Valve logo font for whatever I want per se, but I can't utilize their Logo due to the font in anything because it's a protected piece of art.

<a href="http://www.typeright.org/feature4.html">http://www.typeright.org/feature4.html</a>

[b_TRAIN]

well the other thing you have to think about is...will it really matter?

i dont think there is a valve legal team inspecting throughout the internet for t shirts with a small logo endorsing their games. realistically, i doubt that would be a problem as long as youre not making team fortress 2 shirts and trying to sell them.

[Timmah!]

well the other thing you have to think about is...will it really matter?

i dont think there is a valve legal team inspecting throughout the internet for t shirts with a small logo endorsing their games. realistically, i doubt that would be a problem as long as youre not making team fortress 2 shirts and trying to sell them.

Tru dat. Legally and technically speaking, you should include a caption stating "The Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4, and Counter Strike:Source logos are copyrighted by the Valve Corporation", but I doubt they would pursue a lawsuit against a gaming community that is, practically speaking, promoting their software. Then again, I wouldn't be shocked if they issued a cease-and-desist letter if they happen to hear about it.

[CodeZero]

Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of a cease and desist notification because some pissed off 14 year old gets banned for spamming the server and runs off and shoots Valve an e-mail. It's not entirely beyond the realm of possibility, but like I said it's really up to Brizad and Eclyps in the end.