Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Washington
I am a national sales manager for a manufacturing company. I travel and make copies of our sales sheets that have our trademark symbol at the top of the sheets. I recently was refused copies at a Office Max store and told that it was against the law for them to copy my sheets. I am a authorized representative of our company and hand out these sales sheets at the shows to my customers. I have never before been told that it is illegal for me to make copies of our trademarked papers in any company that I have worked for.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Any good IP attorney will say the Office Max employee was being cautious He or she may have confused the trademark symbol with a copyright notice. Had there been a copyright notice, Office Max could have been liable as a party to copyright infringement. Copying a registered trademark also has potential liability issues for Office Max. In the event it was applied in an unauthorized manner to a third party product or service, for example, someone could claim Office Max was a party to trademark infringement and go after their deep pockets. For these reasons, Office Max may have a corporate policy against copying anything with a copyright or trademark symbol. A local copy shop, by comparison, has probably never had legal advice on these issues. They would just copy whatever the customer wanted and be entirely oblivious to the risks. Consult with a good business attorney in your area for specific advice.
Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D. - Mr. Franchise
Franchise Attorney
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