I’ve been wondering, is it legal to use the Ghostbusters Logo (aka “Ghost-Design”) on a webpage? Are there any requirements? I’ve been working on my own personal homepage and made a pretty sweet banner which included the logo but I’m afraid to post it online in fear of violating a trademark law. I’ve tried googling but to no avail… can anyone clarify this for me?
From what I’ve been told, as long as I’m not selling anything I should be fine.
Yes, you’re fine. Its the internet.
The “no ghost” logo is a copyrighted trademark owned by Columbia Pictures, I think it would be polite to add a mention of it’s owners on your site.
Place this at the footer of your website:
Ghostbusters copyright © 1984 Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. All rights reserved.
Your banner is cool,I got a couple of friends that have a site,they were told if your not selling anything and making off of it your fine!
It’s a copyrighted logo so any usage of it without the required permission is illegal. However if you aren’t making money off it and you put a mention of who the image belongs to then it tends to get overlooked as you aren’t gaining off their property.
For your banner it should be fine.
If no money, nobody sues. There’s no money to be made.
Also, probably not the best to alter the logo and make cash off it. There was a car wash near me that was called “Dustbsuters”, had the No ghost logo with a dirty guy in it. They got a cease and desist order pretty quick.
There used to be a similar outfit around here “Clogbusters” (plumbing/drain cleaning). I haven’t seen any of their trucks in quite a few months and would suspect the same thing happened.
Sure, if you’re making money of it. But remember, there are always parody rights.
I think fair use laws might be applicable, but this is a question best directed to Ron Daniels.
I can no longer answer questions of this type. But it’s best just to google the issue, and at any juncture you feel you have encroached a legal issue contact a lawyer.
Nice.
I have to abide by strict rules or else I’ll be in trouble with the Bar. >>
No, Ron, I understand and thats why its awesome.