Legal Question in Business Law in New Jersey

To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, � For every question, there is an answer that is simple, neat and wrong. --- That said, if the image is not in the public domain, use of same may give rise to liability for copyright and/or trademark infringement.

Kindly note and remember that my response is merely a general comment on the law related to your question, and NOT legal advice or opinion. Also, your question and my response does NOT create an attorney-client relationship between us. You cannot rely upon what I have written, because I do not have all of the information that I need to advise you or render an opinion. Even simple facts you have not shared can completely change my answer. For me to give you legal advice or opinion, you would need to hire me to be your lawyer, and then we would need to discuss this in detail and go over the documents.

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No, you would be violating I think it's Disney's IP presumably under both copyright and trademark. You see, the complaint will likely be that you are falsely associating or presenting a false endorsement, sponsorship of other affiliation with the mark holder.

You are best to come up with your own unique and distinguishable brand to identify yourself in the marketplace.

Your trademark will be one of if not the most important and valuable business assets you will have and you will ultimately spend more money in support if it than you will anywhere else (advertising, marketing, PR, branding, packaging, etc.). So you owe it to your business and yourself to make sure you handle this properly upfront and the first order of business always starts with a proper and comprehensive clearance.

Whenever you endeavor into investing in a trademark it is very important that you conduct the proper clearance due diligence upfront and before you start spending any money in support of it or submit an application to the USPTO. In the US, this means searching under both federal (USPTO) as well as common law because trademark rights stem from use in this country NOT registration. This means that acquiring a federal registration does not necessarily mean that you are not infringing on another's intellectual property. See the link below for a brief article from Fox Business News on the importance of the due diligence process and our overview guide.

http://smallbusiness.m.foxbusiness.com/quickPage.html?page=20969&content=26793940&pageNum;=-1

http://www.lanternlegal.com/trademark_due_diligence.php

I suggest that you consult with a lawyer in private and discuss your objectives in more detail. You can start by calling around to several for a free phone consultation, get some insights then pick the best fit to work with.

If you would like to discuss further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient. Our firm is now referred by the American Bar Association (see under the New York section):

http://www.americanbar.org/groups/delivery_legal_services/resources/programs_to_help_those_with_moderate_income.html

Kind regards,

Frank

www.LanternLegal.com

866-871-8655

[email protected]

DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is formed on the basis of this posting.

Copyrights give the author the exclusive right to make derivative works. When a major studio, publisher, or artist copyrights a character, the protection is typically broad enough to cover any identifiable image of that character. Moreover, major copyright owners will vigorously protect their copyright at the risk of losing rights. So, if an advertiser should use the image of Mary Poppins (to use your example), he/she should expect to be contacted by Disney's lawyers.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm