Trademark Usage - What is Fair Use and What Isn't?

[stscac]

For those who are experts in trademark/copyright laws in the United States, the following question is for you. Others may also post in this thread posting information and links that may be pertinent to the situation at hand.

Hypothetical Situation:
I live in New England, so let's say that I wanted to start a website where fans of the Boston Bruins could come and read news, chat about the team with other members (in a forum or chatroom type situation), etc.

Let's take Hockey Forum for example. They use the Bruins logo when listing the team forums individually. Taking this into consideration, I'd have a site that was dedicated to just the Bruins, as aforementioned. I would use the Bruins logo in the branding of the site, but make it clear that it was not an Official Bruins website, just a place for the fanbase to chat about the team.

In Wikipedia articles, referencing the Boston Bruins article, they have a page with the Bruins logo, citing that it is fair use because it is not of a high resolution. My use of the logo would not be any larger than that size in the branding of the site.

My question is:
Can I use the logo (I have seen other fan sites that do implement a professional sports team logo into the branding of their site) as part of my fan/news website? Regardless of the answer, what are the implications and responsibilities that I would have if I did use the logo?

Thanks

-Steve

 

[DNQuest.com]

Mostly it comes down to commercial usage. Fan sites are protected as fair use as long as you don't show any bad faith. Fan sites are a labor of love, but any ads, links, subscriptions, stores, etc is a commercial venture (or could be interpreted that way). Now, as far as the logo is concerned. At teh end of every sporting event, you hear the disclaimer about the broadcast and the copyrights are owned by the media station and the sports organization. Logos are copyrighted and owned by the team and sports organization, legally, you would need to get permission to use the logo itself.

You do need the disclaimer that you are an unofficial fan site., but that will only help you as long as bad faith cannot be proven against you.

 

[stscac]

Mostly it comes down to commercial usage. Fan sites are protected as fair use as long as you don't show any bad faith. Fan sites are a labor of love, but any ads, links, subscriptions, stores, etc is a commercial venture (or could be interpreted that way). Now, as far as the logo is concerned. At teh end of every sporting event, you hear the disclaimer about the broadcast and the copyrights are owned by the media station and the sports organization. Logos are copyrighted and owned by the team and sports organization, legally, you would need to get permission to use the logo itself.

You do need the disclaimer that you are an unofficial fan site., but that will only help you as long as bad faith cannot be proven against you.

Awesome reply. Do you (or anyone else for that matter) know how to go about getting permission from the "team" to use their logo?

-Steve