I need help with copyright law...?

Question

I'm a student senator with SGA at Florida State University. Our SGA seal and the FSU seal both have three torches in them. You can find both at http://sga.fsu.edu/ the SGA one is obvious, the FSU one on the bottom right.

The licensing department has issued us a copyright violation type thing when placing our seal on a bus we provide for the students and on a newspaper bin thing that provides free newspapers for students.

They say we need to change our seal because the three torches are from the FSU seal and we need permission first. This comes as a surprise to us since we've had the SGA seal for decades.

I was wondering how valid this claim was. The torches are not even identical or anything, and if you check out fsu.edu, they're changing the FSU seal torches to a more graphic look.

Also, the FSU seal is pretty old. The first time the torches show up in the seal is back in 1901. The seal has changed, but the torches haven't really.

Can we argue this or is it simply a violation?

Answer 1

First, this is a trademark question rather than a copyright one.

That said, their claim looks baseless to me, particularly sense the disputed logo has been around such a long time. Any claim they had would have had to been filed five years after the first use of your logo, otherwise the distinctiveness of the mark becomes uncontestable.

Don't you have a law school there? You should be talking to a law prof there. They would love this stuff as a real-world example for a future trademark class.

Answer 2

You can fight the violation but you most likely will not win. They can enforce copyright law at any time no matter how long after your organization started using the seal unless you can prove written permission to use the seal when the SGA seal was created. It MUST be written....I would call this a simple violation and pursue other options.

Answer 3

go to copyright office website and download the info. you'll probably lose, unless you can show prior right under copyright law. various changes have changed in the last several decades, extending, revising etc the copyrights and how longthey last. you will need an attorney, if you want to even consider a court case if for nothing other than an explanation of the law. I advise a simple change would be better, or get permission to use the symbol.

Answer 4

It is not a violation at all. Their claim is groundless.

And as a body within the FSU I believe you have every right to have a logo which incorporates features similar to FSU's.

Obviously someone at FSU does not like you and they are using strong-arm tactics to try and give you grief. FIGHT IT!

Answer 5

If one seal cannot completely identify the other then there is no legal infringement. Much akin to rap songs that sample other songs. If the "sample" cannot completely identify the original song as a whole then again no legal infringement.

Answer 6

Choose your fights.
Its not worth the battle.
Go back and ask permission and play their game. They still might let you use it.