

Ask HN: "Fair Use" of Magazine Logos? - ComputerGuru

Hi,<p>Our organization makes free software, and recently "Product X" was reviewed and given the "Editor's Choice" award by PC Magazine.<p>Seeing this, I placed their magazine logo linking back to the review on our download page, alongside the badges of other download awards we've been given in the past.<p>I was contacted barely 24 hours later by Ziff Davis Media legal, and told that my use of the logo was not Fair Use and I had to license their editor's choice award logo for $1250 per year.<p>I'm no lawyer, but I honestly feel that this is fair use? I'm using their logo to link back to their site - does anyone know if this is not allowed?<p>BTW, the PC Magazine review used our product, screenshots of our product, and more without letting us know they were doing a review let alone asking for our permission. Can someone explain the logic in this to me? And on their site, they have the screenshot of Product X alongside the "PC Magazine Editor's Choice" logo.<p>I'm sure anyone reading this can figure out "our organization" and "Product X" but whatever.
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secret
Seems like you were doing them a favor in the first place.

I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt first, chalking it up to an
overactive legal department, but on further thought it sounds as if what they
have going is a roundabout way to sell their endorsement. In which case, their
endorsement is meaningless, at least from a philosophical perspective.

For what it's worth, I completely agree with you about the fair use, but I'm
not a lawyer either.

