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Apparently, using someone's public logo to refer to them is fair use.

Anyway, that's not the point.




IANAL: Depends on whether it causes marketplace confusion.


fair use

The concept of "fair use" applies to copyright law, but it doesn't apply to trademark law at all. And if GetSatisfaction doesn't have anyone on staff who knows the difference between copyright law and trademark law, while they are copying business corporation trademarks to display on their site, they are acting in a seriously unprofessional and legally dangerous manner. The lesson for employees of GetSatisfaction would be to not accept stock options as compensation, and to start sending around resumes to a company that is more legally prudent in its business model.


Really? The way they were using the logo on their page made it look like it was an official 37s service. That isn't fair use.


Not fair use at all: In many jurisdictions it's called passing off.


You use the word "apparently" when you really mean "potentially". You can use a non-free image...

* ... for purposes of education, criticism, or comment ...

* ... noncommercially ...

* ... and only by ensuring you don't dilute the mark by causing confusion about whether the owner approved it.

It is not at all clear that 37s couldn't lawyer up on GetSatisfaction, even after yesterday's cleanup. Of course, 37s probably won't do that.




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