Legal Question

Since the crowd here seems to be very knowledgeable, I figured I would pose this question to you all, as it's been in the back of my head for a while.

I'm currently in the process of developing a business that would be selling prints, t-shirts and the like with my drawings on them.

My question is, if I draw a picture of a car and sell copies of it for profit, do I need the permission of the manufacturer of that car?

Here's an example. This is a drawing I did of my car for practice.

It's obviously a Honda Civic, but since there's no Honda logo or mention of the word Honda on the drawing, would it be fine and dandy to sell copies of it?

Not to be that guy, but there's a Honda logo right there on the hood.

Not my area of expertise - talk to billy3esq, he's an IP lawyer.

There was a thing in the news a couple years ago about a Mustang club that was going to publish a calendar with pictures of their car, and Ford threatened legal action. In the end, it turned out that as long as they didn't specifically use the Ford logo (as opposed to there just happening to be Ford logos on the cars in the pictures) they were okay with it. http://www.adrants.com/2008/01/ford-slaps-brand-enthusiasts-returns.php

Tommy Suddard wrote: Not to be that guy, but there's a Honda logo right there on the hood.

Oh shoot. That's a horrible example then. Well, pretend it's not there. Then what?

I'm really neglecting to notice the obvious today (See my "Car Died On Highway" thread for more examples of idiocy).

I'd say it's fine, probably even with the logo. Most of the companies are too big to mess with stuff like this, anyway.

Yeah, but you never know when you'll be the one guy that the big company decides to make an example of...

I don't think it would be an issue but I'm hoping someone would know for sure.

VW was (may still be) on the war path where use of their logo is concerned. I guess it depends on the company your dealing with.

I was going to reprint some really old Datsun literature and actually contacted Nissan to find out about paying royalties. Some of the stuff I have does NOT have any copywright marks or notes anywhere.

They would never call me back. Chances are it might be that I was not another Law Firm calling them.

So it is on the back burner for now......

SillyImportRacer wrote: VW was (may still be) on the war path where use of their logo is concerned. I guess it depends on the company your dealing with.

Yes, I remember when they went after repair shops that used Beetle and Bug in their names.

I wonder if they went after the BBQ joint in Woodstock Ga? Beetles BBQ? They have a smoker made from a Beetle carcass.

See the first pic http://www.beetlesbbq.com/photos.php

no real help here but if i recall there was a complicated court case awhile back, maybe the ford thing referenced above,not sure. but basically they said "you cant use a picture of that car and sell it commercially." the defendant said, in effect " I (we?) bought that car and when i did i also purchased all right to use , display, and reproduce its likeness in any way i see fit, you (the manufacturer) sold all that to me whether you like it or not. any likeness i create is my work, not yours." I think in the end, the defendant won the case, or it was settled out early. anyway , interesting stuff.

Just stay FARRR away from anything with Shelby on it. He's freaking nutz.

cwh wrote: Just stay FARRR away from anything with Shelby on it. He's freaking nutz.

+1.

My respect for Mr. Shelby as a builder/racer is far outweighed by my disdain for him as a litigious prick.

3Door4G wrote:

Tommy Suddard wrote: Not to be that guy, but there's a Honda logo right there on the hood.

Oh shoot. That's a horrible example then. Well, pretend it's not there. Then what?

FWIW, the Tommy-mentioned logo looks TO ME like a lower case 'h', but that's just me...

I got a call one time from a client of mine who got visited by US Marshalls serving an Order issued to protect the Budweiser logo. It was not a happy time.

Hmm... See, this is what I'm worried about.

I wonder if there's a way to protect myself from this sort of thing.