Copyright Laws

[benrichards]

I am currently doing some designs for a clothing company. A lot of their current designs are "spin-offs" of other famous designs but changed to have their company title on.

I am looking to do some similar ideas but was wandering on what rules and reg's there are in doing so.

Example:

Say the company title is two 3-letter words, would it be acceptable/legal to do a design inspired by, for example, the AC/DC logo below but with the text changed to my client's company name


Thanks

[Buda]

I'm not a lawyer, but I doubt unlicensed spin off products are legal.

[Lions_fan]

Obviously ripping the same colors, font style, or symbol would be illegal, but if you simply like the pointed and graffiti-esque font style there's plenty of variations you can use. While it's a judgment call, it's better to err on the side of caution and change it if it looks too similar. For example, if you're designing a logo for performing artists or a recording studio working in the same genre, then you'd want to take extra caution in changing it up.

Also keep in mind a business logo should look great in black-and-white as well as color, so a logo too similar to that wouldn't look too great.

What makes that logo great is it's unique branding and unchanged recognition achieved over several decades, not necessarily because the font or coloring is very impressive. The best logos will always be because they're original and tailor made for the business.

[benrichards]

Originally Posted by Lions_fan

Obviously ripping the same colors, font style, or symbol would be illegal, but if you simply like the pointed and graffiti-esque font style there's plenty of variations you can use. While it's a judgment call, it's better to err on the side of caution and change it if it looks too similar. For example, if you're designing a logo for performing artists or a recording studio working in the same genre, then you'd want to take extra caution in changing it up.

Also keep in mind a business logo should look great in black-and-white as well as color, so a logo too similar to that wouldn't look too great.

What makes that logo great is it's unique branding and unchanged recognition achieved over several decades, not necessarily because the font or coloring is very impressive. The best logos will always be because they're original and tailor made for the business.

Thanks.
Its not actually for a logo design. The company already has an established logo, this is just a design for a t-shirt. The client is a BMX biking and clothing company, not a band or anything like that. Thanks for the feedback.

[Max Rivera]

Copyright laws consider what's called "fair use". It somewhat exempts satire and criticism of being a direct offense to copyright.

It's a muddy terrain, and the higher the profile and profits of your client, the riskier it is.

[Drazan]

Max - your idea of "fair use" is wrong.

Fair use is for fans of the original. Aka I can make a fun LOTR graphic for the upcoming Hobbit movie and place it on my website. I cannot make tshirts and sell that graphic. The copyright holder can still tell me to take the graphic down from my site.

Satire or Making fun of the original is just that. You are making fun of an identifiable original in an identifiable way. You are not trying to sell that idea as your own.

Taking bits of a logo or original artwork and tweaking it for your own purposes is illegal. The change it 20% is still a derivative of the original is illegal.

Taking inspiration from something or styling it like something is different. In the example the OP posted, you cannot use the lightning or the ACDC font. However if you like that style of writing you can find a ton of fonts that are similar and use it in your own tshirt design. If you combine it with the lightning in the way that it divides AC/DC then you are infringing on the copyright. If you have two words and you put a bike, or other symbol in between you are not infringing on the copyright. It all depends on if you look at the design and say "well that looks like the AC/DC logo" if it does in anyway then it's not going to work.

[Max Rivera]

Quoting Wikipedia:

Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, search engines, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test.

I forgot to add the main consideration of Fair Use: education. Maybe you are talking about Fan Art or Fan Fiction, which is tolerated by the brand holders as long as it helps their branding.

Satire is how SNL can get away with their mockery to products and performers without being sued every saturday.

[Drazan]

Yep, the main thing in all that, is you cannot sell other people's copyrighted work in any sort of derivative form. Your first post looked like you were approving the alteration of the AC/DC logo by citing Fair Use.

[Max Rivera]

Not at all. It's a dangerous game.

I remember reading that Matt Groening came to Mexico City and visited Tepito, an urban market known for it's pirated goods. He saw hundreds of Simpsons tees cross branded with Spiderman and Mexican luchadores. Loved them and bought them all.

But that requires a refined sense of humor that corporations and lawyers lack.

[PanToshi]

This is a more reliable source than wikipedia.

copyright.gov