Copyright Laws vs. UPT Class Patch

[Guest trouble t]

How do we make a patch that is obviously copying a well-known, trademarked brand, without getting fined/imprisoned?

Seems like every patch out there is a clear violation of copyright laws, yet somehow was approved by both a patch company and a chain of command. But Mardonco just told me they wouldn't do our patch because it would be illegal.

?

Thanks.

[Ram]

Find someone who will do it. Mardon sucks sometimes. I'm sure there are lots of members who can make recommendations.

OR...MAYBE...JUST A RANDOM THOUGHT HERE...you can SEARCH for a similar subject and there might be some great info SOMEWHERE on this board.

[BADFNZ]

People still use Mardon?

Welcome to 2009. Try Prog Spec or E-Snacko.

[brabus]

Mardon sucks...use prog specialties. I've had two separate patches made by them back in UPT and both were very good quality/well done on the artwork, well priced and they were much faster than Mardon. Mardon is slow as hell, has shitty customer service and their quality isn't bad, but it's not anything to get excited about. I wish people would stop using them so they'd just go out of business...why do squadrons continue to put up with their crap?

On your question though, if you get a letter/email from the company whose logo you're trying to use saying it's OK, then Mardon will do it. Case in point, our Friday patch in UPT had Bob's Big Boy on it and originally I was going with Mardon. I got the same thing you did, so I emailed Bob's Big Boy "contact us" form on their website and just explained who I was and what I was trying to do (I think most companies would be glad to let the military use their logo on a patch). They sent me an email from some corporate dude and Mardon OK'd it. However, after waiting for a month (I finally got through on the phone and they said it'd be another 2 months), I said screw it and called Prog Spec. I had the patches within 3 weeks and they far exceeded my expectations. The detail is stunning (for you Mitch Fatel fans out there).

[VL-16]

Prog Spec does great work, try them.

[Wolf424]

Prog Spec does great work, try them.

2

Can't say enough good things about them.

[Swizzle]

Pretty sure parodies don't count toward copyright laws. Read below...

The Copyright Act in Section 107 enumerates four "fair use factors" that must be analyzed to determine whether a particular use of a copyrighted work, such as a parody, is fair use. These factors are the (1) purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is commercially motivated or instead is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) nature of the copyrighted work; (3) amount and substantiality of the portion used in the newly created work in relation to the copyrighted work; and (4) effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. A court when evaluating a fair-use defense takes into consideration each of the four factors as no single factor by itself is sufficient to prove or disprove fair use. The following discussion will describe the specific fair use criterion and provide an overview of the key issues involved in the analysis of the fair-use defense.

Parody Debate

I ran into this issue w/ stubborn leadership in college. After showing them the laws and convincing intent was parody, they had no problems.

[Chutdoggin]

I know it sounds tacky but seriously - experience x2 - I made our UPT Patch plus another one on the side and ran into copyright issues both times. The work-around was to email the copyright holder.

UPT Patch was Chuck Norris and we emailed his attorney in Dallas and got permission in about a week - the other patch was the pencil tab with our university logo and the athletic director was more than happy to let us use his logo on our patch - got that one back in less than a day.

Most dudes dont mind as long as you arent trying to make a ton of money of it - or find a sketchy company, that works too.

[drewpey]

one of the classes I saw go through got permission from the copyright holder. Easier than you'd think.

I also recommend ProgSpec. Their work is great!

[Ill Destructor]

patchesrus.com Quality work, fast turn around. But my class wasn't doing a standard parody patch either. YMMV.

[Slander]

My class parodied the PGA Tour logo. We got a letter from them saying we could use it. Took about 2 months for it to go through all the layers including the ones at CB to make sure there weren't any hidden shocker references in it.