Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Character or Logo in a Newspaper Article or Advertisement

I work for a small new local paper in an area (rural central Illinois) with few, if any, lawyers specializing in IP. We have some questions regarding the legality of using product logos and/or characters in ads and articles. The ads would be for stores selling the product rather than the company that makes the product (and owns the rights to it), so we're a little unsure what's allowed.

Examples:

-For a grocery store's sale on Coca-Cola, is use of the Coca-Cola logo okay, or just the name?

-For a comic book store's ad, can we use images of superheroes from comics sold there? Does it make a difference if the images are from actual comic books or if they are drawn by a local artist who gives us permission to use his/her work?

-Could we use a character's image to illustrate an article (e.g., a picture of Batman in an article on the upcoming Dark Knight film) without specific permission from the publisher or movie studio?

We have not used the images mentioned in the above examples yet, but would like to if possible. We would include all applicable trademark and/or copyright notices and artist credits.


Asked on 6/26/08, 9:12 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Donald R. Simon The EIP group

Re: Character or Logo in a Newspaper Article or Advertisement

Thanks for contacting me. For sales ads and circulars, it's usually OK to use these logos if those products are actually sold at those outlets and not used as some improper enticement to get people in the door. Think bait-and-switch. In fact, these companies usually can provide you with "camera ready" art for just these situations because they want to make sure that their proper and current logos and taglines are being used.

For news articles, the use of logos, etc. is usually OK so long as the logo's use is in connection with a legitimate news story, or for fair comment and criticism. Think movie or product reviews. As with the ads situation above, most of these companies will happily send you logos and other art, if they know you'll be doing a story.

Hope that help!!!

Regards,

Don Simon

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Answered on 6/26/08, 10:38 am


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