Logo use not fair (was Re: [WikiEN-l] Re: Images on user pages)

Thu Sep 15 12:09:26 UTC 2005

--- Michael Snow <wikipedia at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Illustrating the product is hardly a free ticket to fair use, even if 
> that's what the images do here. I don't particularly buy that either; 
> the images are logos that identify the user with the product, not actual 
> illustrations of the product. Also, fair use arguments for user pages 
> are a serious stretch. In most cases, the use has no relationship to the 
> purposes enumerated in the Copyright Act (criticism, comment, 
> scholarship, research, etc.).

IANAL but I have taken more than my fair share of business law classes. So
based on that, along with all the other experience I've gained while dealing
with copyright issues on Wikipedia, I have to say that I completely agree with
Michael on this point. 

Our fair use argument for logos is only strong for the very limited use of
illustrating an article about the organization that owns trademark of the logo.
That is a very clear educational use and should survive a challenge to our fair
use claim. Having that same logo linked from thousands of user pages, however,
has no valid fair use claim that I can think of. 

Unlike copyright, the holder of a trademark must take adequate measures to
protect that trademark (registered or not) in order to keep it. Therefore I
think these logos should be removed immediately from their templates. 

-- mav

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