Advertisement and the use of brand names/famous equipment
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I have read somewhere that you need to get permission and/or pay for the use of brands in your promotional materials.
Does anyone have advice for this?
Would mentioning specific types of equipment be risky? I.e - Juno 106, ReVox A77.
Would saying the virtual instrument was inspired by pieces of equipment like an MPC (without mentioning AKAI) or saying Stratocaster style guitar also be risky?
If you haven't gotten permission or paid the brands, would it be advised to hide/put a piece of tape over the brand name on a piece of equipment, in visual advertisements? I.e tape over the ReVox logo if you had a video of the machine in your promotional material.
I want to be transparent with the quality of equipment used, but also want to avoid any trouble from big brands.
Would love some advice if anyone has encountered this when releasing plug-ins.
Ngā mihi,
Sam -
Sounds like you've already got the correct info.
There is a trick that some companies use where on the plugin page they have a disclaimer fully explaining that the product is not associated with the mentioned brand names and that the names are only mentioned for context and history on the technology.I don't know anything about it, but perhaps that's an option that gets you out of trouble on the product page.
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Usually the reason you see brands covered over on tv is because of potential future sponsorship, this is very common on US "reality" shows. For example if someone is drinking a can of Coke they will usually put tape over the logo, because in the future they might get sponsorship from Pepsi.
However as far as I know there is no legal requirement to do this, as long as you aren't claiming ownership or a business association with the product/brand.
To be certain, ask a lawyer.
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@cassettedeath AFAIK you cannot mention or show brands. This is what trademark is for. Brands can claim you are making money with his names. Or even worse. They can also claim for hurting brand s reputation. But I strongly recommend to ask a lawyer (or chat gpt LOL)
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I have a great deal of experience with this, having worked on the HeadRush ReValver product for about 20 years. That product is all about representing famous gear. Legally, we do not have the right to use someone's trademark (logo, etc), so the common practice is to (1) name the product and design the logo in "spirit" of the source product and (2) put a disclaimer online and in the product stating that the brands implied are owned by the owners...lol. In the case of ReValver, we had an agreement with Peavey Electronics, Budda Amps, and Trace Elliot to use their actual logos and design, but you'd want that in writing.
If anyone has any specific questions regarding this....just hit me up. I'd be glad to help. -
@scottmire said in Advertisement and the use of brand names/famous equipment:
we do not have the right to use someone's trademark
I don't think this is the OP's intention. He's just saying, "hey I recorded this piece of equipment". I don't think that infringes a trademark.
It's like if I made a video demonstrating how I make a sandwich and said I was using Hellman's Mayo, I'm not trying to pass off my sandwich as being made by Hellman's or trying to claim that I own or am associated with Hellman's.
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@d-healey
Reading.....apparently so hard for me....
Per advice of the legal dept....when advertising/marketing and mentioning the "source" product we always have to say "based on" the source product AND have the disclaimer concerning ownership. We would make bold, general statements about how our product replicates famous hardware with "uncanny" accuracy, but we never would say that we were the best Marshall JCM800 emulation.
If that all makes sense?
