Re: [DML] QAC label with DMC logo - PATENT INFORMATION

["Video Bob" <videobob@xxxx>]

( I'm don't think anymore could be added to this subject so I'm going to end it with this post. We're starting to cover some of the same ground that's been covered and expanding away from DeLoreans: Moderator )


Let me bbreak it down like this.
Ever heard of a little band from San Francisco named "Metallica"?
When they were a garage band playing in tiny clubs, they started to cover 
other bands
music, namely "Diamond Head", almost every song on their first album came 
from
Diamond Head.
Some local fans of the music made some "bootleg" or "underground tapes" of 
Metallica
and traded them amongst each other until one of these tapes got into the 
hands
of a promoter that was putting on a battle of the bands show.
Metallica, who at the time was all living together in a one room apartment 
with no money
was asked to play show that would be the spark that ignited their career.
If not for the fans distributing their bootleg tapes who knows if they ever 
would have made it.
Now, many years later they have gone so far as to sue their own fans for 
using "Napster"
and trading their music on the internet.
I have not bought one of their albums since, nor will I ever, or ever attend 
their shows.
I am done with them and I can tell you about a lot of other people who feel 
the same way.

Now, I am not saying that people should have free reign of the logo.
Hey, I am a television personality, there are several people around the 
country that
actually have fan pages about me, they use my logos, my copyrighted stuff on 
their
page where they praise me.
Am I going to complain about that?
NO WAY!

MY SUGGESTION was that the licensing agreement be such that even the little 
guy could
use the logo for things as small as stickers or other items that are not big 
money makers,
providing that DMCH approves the design.

I would really like to know if PG Grady, Delorean Motor Center, Delorean 
Stainless Steel Products,
Gullwing Magazine, DCS Magazine, ....and all the countless others of people 
out there making
logo'd merchandise have licensing agreements.
I feel I have something positive to offer people, and I would like to be 
able to do it.

- VB

> Uh, nice sentiment, but wrong.
>
> Trademarks have value. Sometimes lots of value - think of Pepsi,
> Coca Cola, IBM, HP, Ford, the Chevrolet bowtie. It takes a lot of
> time and effort to build the reputation that is behind those
> trademarks. Just seeing those logos gives you an immediate
> impression in your mind about the brand they represent.
>
> Defending trademarks is a Very Serious Thing. If you as a trademark
> holder do not aggressively protect your trademark, you can and will
> lose it. Inspecting products that others produce that use your logo
> is not enough to protect the trademark. You must have agreements
> in place that define precisely the terms under which the logo may
> be used. The price charged for licensing a logo is a measure of the
> effort to protect it. If you as a trademark holder freely license your
> logo to anyone you are diluting that logo's value and you are giving
> a lot of the brand definition to others. Should you later decide
> that you want to charge for use, you can be sued and lose not only
> your attempt to charge you can also lose exclusive use of the trademark.
>
> --
> Mike