A blogger in the U.S. has
received a cease and desist notification from Avis. Avis are a car
rental group, and the blogger in question was reporting upon a case
they were involved in. He felt it was contextually correct to use an
image of both the Avis logo and the Hertz logo, but received in his
comments a cease and desist request with regard to the Avis logo.
Given that the logo was not being used in a trademark context, but more as a relevant illustration to the posting in question, can it possibly be in violation of trademark law? It would be a very hard case to win from what I can see, if the poster had been using it to sell/rent cars then it could cause confusion in the marketplace and would certainly be in violation of trademark laws.
You could of course argue that the image is copyrighted, and therefore he is in violation of copyright law, but then fair use is likely to come into play. As stated on The Register's news story about the piece 'Fair Dealings' in the UK could be more difficult to prove, but the U.S's laws on 'Fair Use' is far more generous.
Despite all this, Avis still posted the following in the blogs comments;
We have the greatest respect for your right to express your opinions on your blog, but that does not include the right to use Avis? trademark as you have done in this particular piece.
Understandably, trademark law is not within your area of expertise. Therefore, we trust that this was done out of ignorance and not based on an intent to misuse our mark to the benefit of your personal injury practice.
We ask that you remove it immediately and refrain from any similar use in the future.
Fred Grumman
Associate General Counsel
Avis Budget Group, Inc.
Personally I believe Avis course of action is a very bad idea, not only will it piss off potential customers but it is of very little gain to them. The publishing of the logo does no harm to them, indeed if it were published with a hyperlink to Avi's site (as below) it could even lead new customers to them. It certainly wouldn't harm their Google rating to have a few free links aimed at their site, and the higher they are in search results the better.
The Blogger has decided to leave the image online whilst he seeks further legal advice, but judging from the comments on his blog, the belief that he has not contravened the law seems to be the dominant view. Personally I believe that if Avis decide to file suit, they are misusing the law to target a relatively small goal.
Click the image below to visit the Avis site, decide by yourself whether it looks like a business that should be threatened by their corporate logo appearing on a blog.
The Blogger has now posted an open letter to Avis asking them to back up their claim.
As ever email any comments to btaskeraa@bbgmailll.com and I'll do my best to post them.
Given that the logo was not being used in a trademark context, but more as a relevant illustration to the posting in question, can it possibly be in violation of trademark law? It would be a very hard case to win from what I can see, if the poster had been using it to sell/rent cars then it could cause confusion in the marketplace and would certainly be in violation of trademark laws.
You could of course argue that the image is copyrighted, and therefore he is in violation of copyright law, but then fair use is likely to come into play. As stated on The Register's news story about the piece 'Fair Dealings' in the UK could be more difficult to prove, but the U.S's laws on 'Fair Use' is far more generous.
Despite all this, Avis still posted the following in the blogs comments;
We have the greatest respect for your right to express your opinions on your blog, but that does not include the right to use Avis? trademark as you have done in this particular piece.
Understandably, trademark law is not within your area of expertise. Therefore, we trust that this was done out of ignorance and not based on an intent to misuse our mark to the benefit of your personal injury practice.
We ask that you remove it immediately and refrain from any similar use in the future.
Fred Grumman
Associate General Counsel
Avis Budget Group, Inc.
Personally I believe Avis course of action is a very bad idea, not only will it piss off potential customers but it is of very little gain to them. The publishing of the logo does no harm to them, indeed if it were published with a hyperlink to Avi's site (as below) it could even lead new customers to them. It certainly wouldn't harm their Google rating to have a few free links aimed at their site, and the higher they are in search results the better.
The Blogger has decided to leave the image online whilst he seeks further legal advice, but judging from the comments on his blog, the belief that he has not contravened the law seems to be the dominant view. Personally I believe that if Avis decide to file suit, they are misusing the law to target a relatively small goal.
Click the image below to visit the Avis site, decide by yourself whether it looks like a business that should be threatened by their corporate logo appearing on a blog.
The Blogger has now posted an open letter to Avis asking them to back up their claim.
As ever email any comments to btaskeraa@bbgmailll.com and I'll do my best to post them.
