Customer's Logo

[akacruiseman]

I have a new customer who is very interested
in me designing sugar cookies for his St. Patrick's day event(s) and would like me to incorporate his logo on them.
This is going to be quite a large order. What information do we need from him to get permission to us his logo?  Does permission need to go to Zazzle?

Thanks,

Jackie

[avgsuperheroine]

Does this customer work for a large company that has a trademark on their logo? At my day job we have a trademark office that the staff member would have to work with, and zazzle would need to be an approved vendor. It really depends on the business and what protections they have on their logo or wordmark.

[akacruiseman]

Thank you.  He has a small business and owns a few drinking establishments, don't know if he has a trademark on his logo.

[akacruiseman]

His logo is NOT copywrited

[PenguinPower]

Just an FYI, a item need not be registered to be copyrighted… As an indie artist, everything I create is copyrighted… I have never registered anything as it’s cumbersome and expensive and only useful if I intend to take serious legal action against someone who is claiming my design as their own.. That does not mean I don’t still claim my rights to my work.. 

In your case the easiest solution is to make a template with a generic placeholder logo and have the business owner upload the logo and create the order himself… if you’ve a reason to be the middleman, and you have permission, which you do, it’s unlikely that you’ll have trouble here.. unless the logo is nationally recognized or famous it should go through fine. 

[akacruiseman]

I do have permission to use it, I just don't want to get "ginged" by Z

[PenguinPower · Accepted solution]

I think perhaps you misread my post.. I never said you didn’t.. I’m sure they have.. but because your fear is running a foul of copyright/trademark you actually need to think a bit further..

I just think you may be mixing up copyright and trademark.. It may well be that the owner has never registered his logo as a trademark, but if it contains any artwork that artwork is copyrighted, registered or not, unless the owner deliberately relinquishes their rights, by declaring it to be public domain… It is likely that someone holds copyrights to it.. Because of this it will always be the “safest” option to have the logo owner place the order themselves. In all likelihood they own it, but there’s always the possibility that they themselves have licensed third party artwork and that makes the legalities a bit more tangled.. If they’ve licensed anything they may not actually have the right to give you any permissions… Sorry to complicate this for you, but that’s the realities of the profession.. 

I doubt that you’d really run into any of these problems… the owner wants this and they’ve given you the logo to work with, you should be fine. If they own the logo, there’s no one who’s going to DCMA you.. 

[akacruiseman]

Thank you so much for your input!

[idraw]

@akacruiseman 

https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/219144348-What-Content-is-Acceptable-for-Designs-on-Zazzle

You must own all rights (including copyright) in the image and text you upload or have the written permission of ALL persons who own (a) the rights to upload the image or text and (b) the rights to authorize the uses permitted in the User Agreement. If someone other than you is the owner of the image or appears in it or has created the text, you must obtain such permission from those persons. If you upload any image or text that violates our User Agreement, your account may be terminated. 

[akacruiseman]

How do I send written permission to Z?

[ColsCreations]

Could you not just use an image template for where his logo will go? Then he as the customer uploads his own logo he has his own permission to use. There are a bizillion products in the marketplace with "your logo here" templates so businesses can do just that.