Hi all,
As a commercial artist by trade (you can see my site at
http://www.nwlink.com/~paulcl/) I do know a thing or two about copyrights
and trademarks. There are a lot of misconceptions about them, and also the
laws changed somewhat in '79, mostly to clarify and better protect people
who create things.While I'm not giving legal advice, here's the basics (and
apologies in advance for the tenuous Mopar content):
Copyright exists by definition for any created work in a fixed medium. That
is to say, the view through the lens of your camera is not copyrightable,
but when you click the shutter, you create an image that is copyrighted,
fixed right there on the surface of the film. Copyright vests (i.e.
originates) at the moment of creation. You do not need to register or do
anything at all; copyright belongs to the creator by default until you sign
it away to someone else. (it used to be that you had to register- now
registering basically gives you the right to sue infringers for money;
without registering about all you can do is make them stop).
Note that ideas are not copyrightable. I can think of an idea for a movie
about a boy on a planet far far away who gets a light saber from a space
knight and battles evil on a giant death station- that idea isn't
copyrightable. If I write a story down, however, the text is copyrightable.
Trademarks are a special case, and in fact are a rather different thing.
Basically they allow additional restriction against improper use, kind of
on the grounds of identity. So if I misappropriate a copyrighted work, it's
hard for the owner to do much more than make me stop. If I misappropriate a
trademark, there's much more grounds for damages along the lines of
misrepresentation- as though I'm implying identity with the trademark
holder. Therefore painting 'Nike' or the Nike swirl on a tennisshoe is more
than stealing the image, it's making it look like Nike made the shoe, or
authorized it, so if Nike doesn't like what I paint 'Nike' on, they have
much more grounds for making me stop- if it were just a copyright, they
couldn't do much more than prevent me from making money off it. Getting a
trademark registered is a lot more complicated and expensive- getting a
copyright happens automatically when you create something.
As a side note, sometimes companies will go overboard with trademarks to
prevent imitations and knock-offs. When I was a kid I had a book about that
bad Sci-Fi TV show 'Battlestar Galactica'. It was funny, because they'd
trademarked everything in sight- so the text ran like "Luke StarbuckTM
fights an evil Cylon RaiderTM aboard his Viper ShipTM" Both the circle R
and the TM mean trademark- same difference.
So where does that leave our use of the Forward Look logo and other
Chrysler trademarks? Well, clearly Chrysler has the right to make you stop
using them if you're caught. Their willingness to do this depends how tight
they want to be, and it may change with different administrations. Clearly
there is more ground for objection if you're either making money selling
the image (like selling bootleg T-shirts at a show) or if you make it look
like your product is authorized by Chrysler. Definitely you wouldn't want
to put it on a car you built or a package of auto parts you sell.
For clubs and other groups who are essentially fans of Chrysler products,
it gets hazy. If they're smart they'll tolerate it, because we're only
giving them publicity and expressing our devotion for their excellent
products. If they were to find out and object, unless they could
demonstrate that either money'd been made or that somehow the use was
libellous or misleading, it's extremely unlikely that they'd want or even
be able to sue for damages- though they could make you stop.
So in the meantime, if it were me I'd go for it. As Garrison Keillor puts
it, sometimes it's better to apologize than ask permission. If nobody's
making money from it, and it's distributed privately to list members and
not promoted to the public, it seems the chance of problems is rather
small. YMMV.
BTW- I have done a lot of t-shirt printing in the past- if I wasn't in the
process of moving just now, I'd volunteer to help with that part. But if
you need any advice or design work, just let me know.
-Paul Clark
'64 Dart GT
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