Can we be sued for using a meme for naming our company? Once something like a meme goes viral and is widely used by people, it cannot legally function as a trademark, he said. It will typically take the office around four months to deliver a decision on the applications, Mr. Gerben said, but a pending application should not stop a company from beginning work. Let's say we use the name &quot;Ok Boomer Trading Company&quot;. Since we can't trademark a meme, we can't sue other people for using a similar name, but can we be sued by someone for using a meme, which is public domain? I am wondering if we can be sued outside of trademark or copyright reasons for using a meme in the naming of a company or product since it may cause confusion of sort or because we're using something that is in the public domain, which may hurt the public interest in some way.
A phrase which is too generic or in too wide currnt use to be a valid trademark, may nevertheless be used as a business name or slogan. For example &quot;Good Pizza&quot; is so generic that I am reasonably sure that it could not be registered as a trademark, but a business could use that as a name or slogan. A business that did so would forgo any of the advantages of trademark protection or of having a clearly unique name, but as no one else owns trademark rights to the phrase either, no one could sue such a business over its choice of name, or not with any hope of success. Similarly, if a phrase taken from a meme cannot be registered, no one else can have it as a trademark, and so no one can sue successfully. As to copyright, names, titles, and short phrases are simply not protectable by copyright at all. See the US Copyright office circular 01 &quot;Copyright Basics&quot; which says on page 2; Copyright does not protect ... Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans Circular 33 &quot;Works Not Protected by Copyright&quot; says on pages 2-3: Names, Titles, Short Phrases Words and short phrases, such as names, titles, and slogans, are uncopyrightable because they contain an insufficient amount of authorship. The Office will not register individual words or brief combinations of words, even if the word or short phrase is novel, distinctive, or lends itself to a play on words. Examples of names, titles, or short phrases that do not contain a sufficient amount of creativity to support a claim in copyright include: The name of an individual (including pseudonyms, pen names, or stage names) The title or subtitle of a work, such as a book, a song, or a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work The name of a business or organization The name of a band or performing group The name of a product or service A domain name or URL The name of a character Catchwords or catchphrases Mottos, slogans, or other short expressions As for ... if we can be sued outside of trademark or copyright reasons Trademark and copyright are basically the only kinds of suit likely to be brought over a business name, logo or similar identification, particularly in the fact patter discussed in the question. (However, see the section on &quot;fraud&quot; below.) Things that are in the public domain are free for anyone to use, not protected against anyone's use. What is not permitted is trying to claim an exclusive right to PD items., by a copyright or trademark claim. The one exception I can think of is that if someone had established a phrase as a trademark, and it later became a meme, then perhaps the trademark owner could sue over uses of it. But with the phrase having become generic, it might well lose any trademark protection. The first thing a plaintiff must do in presenting a trademark suit is establish that the mark is a currently valid trademark, owned by the plaintiff. If the mark is not a valid tm, the suit is over because it has no protection. Fraud A comment states: ... Intentionally misleading others to believe you are a particular party using a non-protectable name, when in fact you are a different party, seems like fraud, and it very much hinges on the name/similar identification. In the fact patter from this comment, the name is derived from a meme, and so there is no other particular person. In that case one cannot plausibly be deceiving anyone into thinking that a business is actually a different business, because there is no business which is uniquely identified by the name. Still, it is possible for fraud to occur in a fact pattern similar to this. Say a local store calls itself &quot;good pizza&quot;, a name not protect able as a trademark, because it is too generic. But it is popular and has a good reputation. Another store, hoping to confuse customers, calls itself &quot;Goode Pizza&quot;. A customer calls &quot;Goode Pizza&quot; and aks &quot;Are you the Good Pizza on George Street?&quot; (which is the location of the first store. An employee answers &quot;Yes&quot; (falsely) and the customer then places a delivery order. That might be fraud. For a fraud case, in most jurisdictions, it must be proved that: A person knowingly made a false statement (or in some jurisdictions an intentionally misleading statement&quot;); with the intention of getting a financial advantage, or depriving another of an advantage or benefit; The statement was material to the transaction (meaning that the other party might well have not agreed to the transaction, or demanded different terms, in the absence of the fraudulent statement); The other party relied on the fraudulent statement; it was reasonable for the other party to rely on the fraudulent statement; and harm was done to the other party as a result of this reliance. Some jurisdictions omit or modify some of these elements. In the Good Pizza / Goode Pizza scenario above, ther is a knowingly false statement. Since the customer asked about the identity of the store, it can be assumed that it was material to the transaction. The imitation of the other store's name suggests an intention to mislead, although more proof might be needed. There was reliance, and it was probably reasonable. What is not clear is the harm done -- additional evidence might be needed on that element. This scenario is, however, rather different from the situation discussed in the question. Note that in the US, trademarks can be protected from mere use, without registration, if they otherwise qualify. In general there will be a preference to frame such a case as one of trademark infringement, rather than fraud, if possible, because fraud is usually harder to prove (trademark infringement dose notr require proof of intention to mislead nor of knowing falsehood), and statutory damages may be available in a trademark infringement case, without any need to prove actual damages. Also, the competing store would generally not be able to bring a fraud case, only the customer who was mislead. could do so
The question mentions copyright, but corporate logos are more often protected by trademark law. There are significant differences in the protections afforded, and in where actions can be brought. Copyright Simple logos may not be subject to copyright protection at all. Individual words and short phrases, such as business names and slogans, are generally not protected. But let us assume that the logo in question is a graphic design of sufficient complexity and originality to be protected by copyright. Copyright offers essentially international protection, and the Berne Convention and the TRIPS agreement ensure that the rules are in many ways similar in almost all countries. One can sue in the copyright owner's jurisdiction, or in any jurisdiction where infringement occurred. If the defendant has a presence in the selected jurisdiction, collection of any damages will be significantly easier. Scenario from the Question If I have understood the question, the logo was originally created by P (or more likely by a designer hired or contracted by P) and P holds the copyright on the logo. But S has obtained the logo via B, presumably at a lower price than P would charge. Neither B nor S, I assume, has permission from P to use the logo. B's action in selling the logo to S would be copyright infringement (unless B independently created an identical or similar logo). S's action in using the logo without permission from P is also copyright infringement. P could sue S, or B, or both in Spain, or in its home jurisdiction (perhaps the US), or in other jurisdictions where the pirated logo had appeared. Actual damages, however, will be limited to the value of the logo (say what P would have charged) plus profits made from the use of the logo. But since S is not selling the logo, it will be hard to determine what part, if any, of its profits derived from the use of that particular logo. That is, how much smaller would its profits have been if it had used a different, non-infringing logo. In the US statutory damages are available, which can be as high as $150,000 per work infringed, if the infringement is proved to be &quot;wilful&quot;. But that is the upper limit of statutory damages, and the judge has wide discretion to set the amount of the award between the upper and lower limits. (The lower limit is $750.) Modified Scenario Suppose that P had sold an exclusive license to U. U is a US-based firm that is actually using the logo to identify its goods, which are distributed world-wide. The actions of B and S have infringed U's licensed rights in the logo, and U could bring suit for copyright infringement, either in the US or in Spain, or perhaps in other countries. But U would have much the same problem as P, it will be hard to prove sizable damages. Which brings us to trademark issues. Trademark Claims Trademark law is usually used to protect words, symbols, and images used to identify products and services being sold or advertised for sale or rental. Unlike copyright, trademark protection does not expire if the mark remains in use. Also, unlike copyright, single words or simple images can be protected. For example, the &quot;red dot in a circle&quot; logo of the Target stores is too simple for copyright protection. But it has strong protection as a trademark. Trademark protection applies in any case where a reasonable person might be confused as to what the source of the goods (or services) really is. It also applies when the mark's use falsely gives an impression of approval or sponsorship by the trademark holder. Unauthorized use of a mark to benefit from the goodwill or reputation associated with the original product or its makers is infringement. Trademark protection, however, is national. A mark protected in one country may be totally free for use in another country. It is also usually limited to a particular category of use If, say &quot;Scarlet O'Hara's&quot; is used as a trademark for a restaurant chain, the use of &quot;Scarlet O'Hara's&quot; for an anti-virus program is not likely to constitute infringement. Copyright has no such limitations. In some countries there is no protection for a trademark unless it is registered. In other countries, use alone can establish a trademark. The US allows protection without registration, although registration brings stronger protection. Also, trademarks can only be protected when they are actually being used &quot;in trade&quot;, that is, to identify or advertise goods or services, or for a limited time while a product is being developed and there is a declared intent to use the mark in the near future. Lack of use or cessation of previous use can cause a mark to lose protection. Scenario from the Question P is selling logos, not using them to identify or market products. Thus it is not using the logo in trade, and has no trademark claim. It cannot sue anyone for trademark infringement, because it has no trademark rights. Modified Scenario (see above) U is using the logo as a trademark world-wide. If it has registered the logo in Spain, or taken such other steps as Spanish law requires, it can perhaps sue S for trademark infringement. It has no trademark claim against B, because B did not use the trademark to identify any goods or services. For a successful suit agaisnt S, U would need to show that confusion between U's products and those of S had actually occurred, or was likely. It would need to show that the products where the logo was used were of a sufficiently similar nature. But if it prevailed, damages could be based on the value of the trade identified by the logo. If S did not sell or market its products outside of Spain, it could only be sued for trademark infringement in Spain. If U did not sell in the Spanish market (or perhaps the wider EU market) it would have no trademark claim. If S started importing its products using the logo into the US, U would have a claim under US trademark law. Thus the details of what logo is used, where and how, and on what products would matter to any trademark claim.
In the US, at least, facts - like the speed of light, the name of a dinosaur or the moons of Jupiter - are not copyrightable. But the words or pictures, designs and original work used to express and present those facts in books, websites and other publications by individuals and publishers are copyrightable. (Original work doesn't need to be published to be copyrighted; it is copyrighted at the moment of creation.) See How can &quot;factual&quot; intellectual property be protected? Plagiarism can be copyright infringement; it's copying and presenting work of someone else's as your own. But not all copyright infringement is plagiarism in the sense that someone is claiming others' work as their own: if you're selling a T-shirt with an unlicensed design, you're not really claiming the design is yours; you're just trying to make money. If you use all or part of an image or a quote or a song from a copyrighted source in your own work, you need permission and attribute the source. Or, you have to decide if the amount of the copyrighted material you are using might be Fair Use and you don't need permission. But decisions on what might constitute Fair Use are ultimately decided in court, because that's where can you end up when a person or a publisher sues you for alleged copyright infringement.
This is likely not fair use. At first blush it appeared similar to things one might see in The Onion (parody print and online newspaper) or other parody publications or shows (SNL, Key and Peele, etc.). In this case, the context would have likely been deemed transformative. However, since they are selling coffee called "Dumb Starbucks" while using their trademark, they would be be found liable if sued. You can parody a trademark brand, so long as the work is transformative such that the use of the brand goes from selling coffee to making a commentary in which the brand itself is relevant. Amendment I don't think this would pass the test as a parody/commentary. Originally, I failed to notice that they are actually selling coffee. This takes it out of fair use and they would almost certainly lose if sued. If they never sold the coffee, but just had it open as a performance art (like I had originally read this) giving the coffee away to complete the parody, I think they'd be fine. However, they are literally using the Starbucks logo, and selling the same product. This is clearly an infringement of their copyright and not fair use. Sorry for the confusion.
Copyright in the US is usually a civil matter. Meaning that the copyright owner can sue (typically for money damages or injunctive relief) an infringer. The criminal laws that we have are aimed at the reproducer and/or distributor. In other words, chances are that you won't get in any criminal trouble for accessing academic articles of dubious origin. But never say never. RIP Aaron Schwartz.
You cannot use the libraries trademarks, but that does not stop you from using your own. For example, you cannot use the name Twitter Bootstrap to endorse, promote or use as the name of your project.
Generally you can only use logos (i.e., symbolic trademarks) if you have the trademark owners' permission. You may certainly use the names Cisco and Microsoft nominatively, although they might ask you to provide a disclaimer of any affiliation including sponsorhip or approval, if it gets to them. "Not making any money" is also not the sole determinative factor in proving your defense of "fair use".
The length of a literary work doesn't determine if its use is fair use. Copyright does not cover names, titles of works, catchwords/catchphrases/advertising slogans etc. or lists of ingredients (like in a recipe or chemical instructions), however, the procedure can be copyright. The work must also be original. If the tweet copies something that already exists then there is no copyright in the tweet - if the thing that is copied has copyright protection then the tweet itself may be a violation. That said, assuming that the Tweet enjoys copyright protection, the owner will be the author: presumably the owner of the Twitter account. For anyone else to legally use it, the use must be either: Licensed by the copyright owner Fair use (USA) or Fair Dealing (most everywhere else in the English speaking world) For Item 1, the Twitter terms of service say: You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed). In case you don't know what that means, Twitter gives you this plain English summary: Tip: This license is you authorizing us to make your Tweets on the Twitter Services available to the rest of the world and to let others do the same. So, you can get permission from the copyright holder or from Twitter. Well, Twitter has given permission: Except as permitted through the Twitter Services, these Terms, or the terms provided on dev.twitter.com, you have to use the Twitter API if you want to reproduce, modify, create derivative works, distribute, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, or otherwise use the Twitter Services or Content on the Twitter Services. Providing you use their API, you can "reproduce, modify, create derivative works, distribute, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, or otherwise use the ... Content ..." Therefore, fair use/dealing considerations are irrelevant.