At 01:44 PM 8/17/03, Rocky Frisco wrote:
>"Fair use" includes spoofs and parodies, which the teeshirt would
>definitely be.
The "Fair use' you're thinking of primarily relates to copyright law, but
there is a sort of equivalent for trademark law. It's a little murkier,
however:
"A review of trademark parody cases give us no bright line rules. Rather,
they appear to be a barometer of both the presiding judge's sense of humor
and sense of fairness. As Tom McCarthy puts it, "a non-infringing parody is
merely amusing, not confusing. J.T. MCCARTHY, MCCARTHY ON TRADEMARKS AND
UNFAIR COMPETITION, ' 31.38[1] (1995)."
So, if the judge thinks it's funny, you get away with it.
However, it's more lenient if it's non-commercial (that is, you're not
making a buck on it) than if it's commercial.
However still, "Based on the same concerns for a company's reputation,
courts have also stretched to find trademark confusion if the parody
disparages the plaintiff's trademark. "
This last part applies to us, because if the parody disparages the
trademark, as ours would, then it could create a problem. Basically it's
making fun of Lucas quality.
On the other hand, it starts off with "Based on the same concerns for a
company's reputation"... what if their reputation was for flaky electrical
systems? :)
There's a full treatment of all this at
http://www.cll.com/articles/article.cfm?articleid=32#4
But generally I think we're under the radar scope on this one.
- Tab
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