Copyright Law

[cased]

As I'm not a lawyer and don't know much about copyright law, I would appreciate the opinions of my fellow x10hosting members. Is the picture below a violation of copyright law? I'm most concerned about the 'O' as I took it from the logo of the Ohio State Buckeyes. If this is a violation, how much do I have to change the 'O' to keep its similarity to the Ohio State Buckeye colors, but not be in violation of copyright law?

 

[Max1337]

I don't think using that image as a sig is breaking a copyright...
Could be used for a few reasons:
1: you went there
2: your a fan of their team (if they got one)

not too sure about them, but.. these are just opinions/thoughs lol

 

[xPlozion]

the letter O is not copyright by them, and afaik neither is the color. that's a very basic design, and for them to copyright that is simply absurd. now, their mascot would be a different story.

 

[Intra1]

Listen to xPlozion its very good advice. :biggrin:

 

[scottnj]

the letter O is not copyright by them, and afaik neither is the color. that's a very basic design, and for them to copyright that is simply absurd. now, their mascot would be a different story.

Agreed. That 'O' is simple enough that you could create in MS Paint in a matter of minutes, so it can't really be copyrighted.

Now if it had a little picture or drawing on it, then it would be a little bit iffy.

 

[Twinkie]

I think it is fine. There are plenty of fan sites with real pictures of their logo, and I don;t think they can sue unless that picture is commercialized.

 

[cased]

So far so good. Here is the website I'm using it in:

ohiotech.elementfx.com

As you can see, this is a commercial website (meant to earn me some extra money on the side). Does this change things?

 

[hitzz]

great topic. thanx

 

[xmakina]

It's nothing like it. The image with OhioState across it *IS* copyrighted, but the actual O part is nothing like yours (the red and gray is inverted). Also, I wouldn't worry as your not competing with them (football team, web design), and you're not claiming to be them.

Besides, it's not a copyright issue. This image is a registered TradeMark, which is very different to copyright.

 

[comga]

why don't you change the color a little bit, to be safe?

 

[cased]

Could someone explain trademarks to me? How does one go about registering a trademark?