Comments on: Andy Sernovitz Wants You To Let Him Steal Your Logo?

By: Branding Blog Branding Company Corporate Internet Brand Image Strategy

Branding Blog Branding Company Corporate Internet Brand Image Strategy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:36:37 +0000

[...] Andy Sernovitz Wants You To Let Him Steal Your Logo? [...]

By: BIG Kahuna

BIG Kahuna — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:43:43 +0000

I’m saying that by telling people to copy logos or making them easy to copy is not something I would recommend or promote and I don’t think any marketing person should. Because the act of copying a logo is indeed copyright problematic.

It’s done each and everyday. But so isn’t downloading of songs. Or buying that magic cable box.

But I’m happy to engage another reader!

By: Thomas Stack

Thomas Stack — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:37:37 +0000

So now I don’t get your point. You’re saying it’s OK to use logos in blogs (If the company doesn’t mind), but its not OK to point out that if you don’t make the copyable we won’t use them (as much)…Or am I totally misunderstanding this?

Well gave me a chance to read some of the other stuff you have here, and found some good reads so you won yourself another subscriber, even if we don’t agree on the above post.

By: BIG Kahuna

BIG Kahuna — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:17:39 +0000

Hey Thomas,

I see his point but in essence he is promoting copyright infringement by saying it. Look, we all use logos on our blogs and if a company didn’t want us to they would send us a cease and desist, which I’d be cool with.

But to promote such an act seems strange to me. I would never say or tell someone to copy a logo without permission (even though on blogs it’s done ALL the time, including this one). But I’m not running around telling my readers to copy logos either.

And, how is that even word of mouth? Copying a logo if anything is brand awareness, far from word of mouth.

By: Thomas Stack

Thomas Stack — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:08:16 +0000

I think you are totally missing the point of what Andy is saying. I don’t think he is promoting copyright infringement or anything like it. What I think he is saying is that if you want me to spread the word you should do everything you can to make it as easy as possible for me to do that. Now If you don’t want the word of mouth then make it harder to talk about you and see how you do…

By: BIG Kahuna

BIG Kahuna — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:06:49 +0000

Cool, thanks Christopher, so it would be copyright infringement then.

Thank god I’m not a lawyer!

Either way I’m pretty sure a company should protect its logo. Agreed? Should a marketing person promote copying logos to use?

By: christopher carfi

christopher carfi — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:59:02 +0000

actually, almost certainly would NOT be trademark infringement. trademark infringement is when company B is trying to pass their knockoff product off as company A’s well known, trademarked product. trademarks are about customer protection, not IP.

“It seems that so many trademark holders want to believe that a trademark gives them all rights to whatever they trademarked, rather than just the right to prevent confusion or misleading use of the trademark in specific areas. Perhaps we should stop thinking of trademarks as being intellectual property — because they’re not. Trademarks are really about consumer protection; keeping consumers from being tricked into believing something is associated with a company that it’s not.”

from here: http://techdirt.com/articles/20060602/0938225.shtml
more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_infringement