Do I have to blur Canon Logo in Video?

[Mark Suszko]

https://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/pdf/cspdcomicscreen.pdf

[Jason Jenkins]

Great info! Thanks for that link, Mark.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

[Steve Wargo]

I wouldn’t bother. Regardless of everything else, is the image of the camera/logo a positive or negative portrayal of the Canon Corporation?

Are you lawsuit material?
Do you have insurance?
Are you married to or otherwise related to a great lawyer?
Are you willing to stand up against a giant corporation?

Would a company that is built ENTIRELY on the art of the “image” sue you for your work?

Why not contact Canon’s legal department and ask them if they care? Would Sony or Panasonic sue if you showed their logo instead? Of course not.

I have produced dozens of documentary’s on Off-Road Racing, Drag Racing, NASCAR and CART Indy Cars and auto racing is a sport that is all about the hundred’s of logos, company signs, banners and patches. None of them would ever entertain the though of a lawsuit. Instead, they beg us to use their name as often as possible, almost to the point of bribery. Companies that sue without cause are greed filled opportunists. I got a C&D letter from the Del Web Corporation because I titled one of my pieces “The Mint 400”. “Mint 400” is a “mark” belonging to the Del Web Corporation. I immediately scheduled a meeting with their legal department and took my VHS video with me. They watched 10 minutes of it and asked me if I portrayed them in a negative light during any portion of the program or my promotional materials. I said “Nope”. They gave me a document giving me the right to use their marks in any production that showed them in a positive manner. The document was open ended as far as date and everything else. On the other hand, CART, as an organization, was heavy handed and doesn’t allow anything. No wonder CART died. they didn’t get it.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Steve Wargo]

The “Mint 400” incident was in 1985 and the “Mint 400” video was 160 minutes long.

The subject of shooting in Times Square has come up repeatedly. I was told once that Times Square is a registered New York City landmark. New York wants images of Times Square everywhere possible but it needs to be cleared through the NY film office. The “Hollywood” sign is trademarked and you need permission.

I am not a lawyer.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Dan Brockett]

I can offer some input on the Hollywood sign. The image of the Hollywood sign is administered by an entity called Global Icons LLC. I had to pay them many thousands of dollars when I produced the three DVD Bonus Collection of The Wizard of Oz for Warner Bros., even though I didn’t even show an image of the stupid sign, I had a graphic artist re-create a different sign, but it did say Hollywood, in a completely different font and style than the actual Hollywood sign.

It seemed ridiculous to me that I could create my own artwork (I hired a motion graphic designer) from scratch and just type out the word, “Hollywood” and have to pay Global Icons LLC several thousand dollars but that was the way the lawyers saw it. It was a fairly high profile DVD release that sold a few hundred thousand copies so that was the deal.

Dan

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