Legal Question in Business Law in Massachusetts

Re: Logo Spoofing

It is likely you will get a letter demanding you cease and desist. It will depend how the spoof is made and how you intend to use it.

Depending on the company they may or may not press the issue. If it is a Disney or similar company logo or trademark, you will be sued regardless of what you do. Disney will not allow its trademarks or copyrights to be infringed and as a policy sues anyone it discovers using its trademarks or logos.

Before proceeding you should show the spoof to an attorney and explain how you intend to use it.

Satire is not deemed to be a copyright infringement as a general rule, but there are exceptions with respect to such matters.

: Logo Spoofing

Parody may be ok, but something short of this may cause the corporation to sue you.

Re: Logo Spoofing

Copyright is unlikely to be the real issue, as the weightier protection of logos is provided by trademark law. When you describe a logo that "still looks like the company but is not," you are making a distinction that is not going to avoid a trademark infringement problem unless you are deliberately trying to make a line of parody items. If you intend to sell products of the same kind as the logo owner and a consumer would be likely to mistake your logo for that of the other owner, you would subject yourself to significant liability (treble damages plus attorneys' fees) for trademark infringement.

Best wishes,

LDWG