Legal Question in Business Law in California

Who owns a logo?

I needed a logo from a client for use on a sponsored t-shirt (along with 8 other clients) The client asked their t-shirt company to e-mail their logo, which they did. The supervisor called and asked why I needed the logo for another t-shirt company - when I told her what it was for, she said that they shouldn't have sent it to me beause they had designed the logo (actually took their exsiting logo and tweaked it.) I told her that the logo belonged to the client, not her company and if the client asked them to send it me, she really doesn't have much to say about it. Am I right or wrong?


Asked on 7/11/01, 7:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Who owns a logo?

The 'logo' in question is probably but not necessarily a trademark. Trademarks receive some legal protection from creation and use, and additional protection through registration.

Once a trademark enjoys some legal protection it is the property of the firm that uses it, and the protection extends to deceptively similar trademarks used in the same line of business.

Therefore, a couple of factual questions remain in your case. To what extent is the trademark currently protected in general? How 'deceptively similar' is the tweaked version?

My guess is that 'client' controls both the original and the derivative versions through common law useage or through Lanham Act (Trademark Act) (see 15 USC 1114) registration that extends to the 'knockoff' version, but this is only a guess based on the probabilities and incomplete facts.

I cannot advise you that you are lawsuit-proof. Maybe you should ask the client to indemnify you against the other shirt company.

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Answered on 7/12/01, 3:41 pm


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