Trademarks

[muledalton]

I'm a metal shop teacher and we just got a PlasmaCAM CNC machine that is capable of cutting out metal art. Students are going to be able to cut metal art for themselves. Is is OK for a student to take a trademark logo and cut it for themselves as a personal project. I know that they cannot sell it without breaking the law. Can the students do this for themselves? Thanks!

 

[Billct2]

Technically...no.

 

[Firefox]

Technically... Yes, if they wright to the owner of the TM explaining exactly the proposed use and get permission to do so by the TM owner In writing.

Not many companies care if their TM is reproduced as a learning exercise by students... unless they are a Harley Davidson type company that make money off of ererything their logo is on, or even just the logo as in decals!

 

[signage]

Being a teacher I would think that you would want to draw the students creativity out rather than let them copy something!

 

[Firefox]

I think they need to first learn how the machinery works so they can figure out how to be creative with it. Being able to cause a machine to produce accurate repeatable results takes as much or more skill than just pointing it in the general direction you want it to go.

 

[Locals Find!]

Technically, without permission they are breaking the law. Now, that being said is anyone really going to come out checking every student and everything that was done. Doubtful.

Teach your students about the law and advise them of the potential consequences. Then suggest alternatives. You can easily use free clip art to learn with, without all the hassles of copyright violations.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Not many companies care if their TM is reproduced as a learning exercise by students... unless they are a Harley Davidson type company that make money off of ererything their logo is on, or even just the logo as in decals!

Most companies do make money off their logos just not in the sense that we tend to think about.

To the OP: I wouldn't do it. It should be easy enough to create or use royalty free clip art(as was already suggested) to be able to replicate the same results to learn how to operate the machine. To many ways to accomplish your goal other then using a company's logo.

 

[signage]

Being a teacher you should know better than coping something. This is part of the reason why we keep seeing these hacks coming along doing illegal stuff (Calvin peeing, etc.)!

 

[weaselboogie]

I think there might be a stipulation with students and mock advertisements. I went to art school and we were encouraged to do mock ads for real companies. Of course these went no further than portfolio pieces and classes, but I'm not sure if a stand alone logo would fall under that type of stipulation.

 

[J Hill Designs]

I think it would be fair use for educational purposes

"Fair use explicitly allows use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes"

 

[dj_elite]

I took a screenprinting and graphic arts class in high school. The teachers did not care if we copied a companies logo. It was for learning like you said to use the equipment first. Not like we were going to resell any of it and profit from it. Then once we learned the equipment it was design time

 

[Dice]

+1 For Educational Fair Use. Just educate your students on trademark names and law of copyrighted works.

Just don't have them cut out a Mercedes Logo and put on their Honda.