Logos

How does copyright work with logos? For example, the logo for Zondervan Publishing house or The American Society of Magazine Editors.

On a related note, when combining authors, how does one guarantee that the end result is the correct name? I've been trying to combine the three different entries for ASME and keep ending up with "American Society of Magazine Editor." I'm guessing that this is because that name has the most book entires. Is there anyway to override that?

Just the same as any other creative work.

Well it is saying "They American Society Of Magazine Editors" now. I am not sure if it is a simple majority that wins the author name or whether Tim looks at the source.

A logo for a company falls under trademark law as distinct from copyright law, but for all practical purposes here the effect is the same. I get the feeling a company would more actively enforce use of their logo since it implies an official relationship . You could ask for permission, but I suspect they would probably say no.

That is not quite correct (at least in the UK). If a logo is an original work and contains some form of "artistic impression" it is automatically copyrighted as any other artistic work is. But you are right that many logos are also registered as trade-marks (in conjunction with a product or service).

The thing to remember with trade-marks is that they are registered with respect to a certain market sector. No legal action should succeed if you use a similar device (or sign) in a completely different market sector and the general public are unlikely to be confused about who is offering the service or product.

For example Rover is a trademark in the automotive industry. Someone could quite easily register Rover as a trademark in the dog food industry without any recourse from Ford (or whoever owns the Rover trademark now).

I should have said that under US law trademark law is distinct from copyright law. But it seems clear here that using a company trademark (which includes company logos) is basically a no-no without permission.

Thought I would revive this thread to talk about trademarks, as I see a few of them popping up.

Basically, my understanding is that one does not need permission to use a trademark if the use is meant to identify the brand/trademark owner. Which in the case of LT, is exactly what is happening when someone uploads an EFF or AAA logo for their author page. The name of the organization itself is trademarked. If LT can use the name, it should be able to use the logo. I don't think trademark law distinguishes between the two.

For now I'm flagging them but I think it's something that should be reconsidered.

Back in my days getting pictures, I received permission for several logos. For several I was denied permission. Most famously Tabasco, see:
Tabasco Thingology blog August 09, 2007

Ah yes, I remember Tabasco. Why can't I get the touchstone to work?

Reviving this old thread because the author image for Tabasco has been flagged for removal:

http://www.librarything.com/pic/145453

If you remember the original brouhaha surrounding the use of the logo and why I ended up adding pictures of Tabasco bottles instead, please do me (and LT) a favor and vote this proposal down.

(Original Thingology post: http://www.librarything.com/blogs/thingology/2007/08/hot-intellectual-property/)