

Ask HN: Whether my logo will sued or not? - haidrali

I have launched my Tweelerts android app in beta. My friend suggested me that i might get sued by Twitter because of twitter bird in logo (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;profile_images&#x2F;594034922827882496&#x2F;SDPDv7J1.png )<p>Please view my logo above and suggest whether i need to change my twitter bird or not . I took this twitter bird from https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.iconfinder.com and it has license &quot;Creative Commons (Attribution 3.0 Unported)&quot;
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declan
>I took this twitter bird from
[https://www.iconfinder.com](https://www.iconfinder.com) and it has license
"Creative Commons (Attribution 3.0 Unported)"

First, Creative Commons licenses only deal with copyright, as far as I can
recall, not trademark rights.

Second, you don't even know that whoever put it on iconfinder.com and released
it under Creative Commons had the right to do so; they may have uploaded a
copyrighted image that you are now unwittingly using, and unwitting use is no
defense against liability.

Third, you are violating Twitter's guidelines, so as an ethical -- non-legal
-- matter, you should stop.

Fourth, you're likely violating trademark law, which is designed to protect
Twitter from having its official apps confused with others; yours looks like
an official one.

Fifth, Twitter is likely a famous mark, meaning its trademarks are protected
against dilution _even if_ consumers aren't confused. Famous marks get extra
trademark rights.

Sixth, it looks like your app relies on Twitter's API and would be worthless
if you get cut off. So you should have a strong incentive not to piss them
off.

Seventh, as a practical matter Twitter may not notice and send you a C&D
immediately (or ever), but if you become big enough to notice, you may be
liable for retroactive damages from the time of first infringing use.

It may be okay to use temporary icons as placeholders for apps in private
alpha or beta, but it looks like yours is already in the app store. For
example, I have a non-final icon for [https://recent.io/](https://recent.io/)
right now but have a contract with a designer to prepare a final one pre-
launch and am iterating with her this week. You might want to do the same;
look at previous HN threads about how to find designers.

------
sexymac
[https://dev.twitter.com/overview/general/image-
resources](https://dev.twitter.com/overview/general/image-resources)

Twitter allows you to use it in your applications. they just have rules you
must follow. Read more below

[https://about.twitter.com/press/brand-
assets](https://about.twitter.com/press/brand-assets)

~~~
suprjami
This, and contact trademarks@twitter.com to confirm with them.

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pavlov
The Twitter bird is a registered trademark. It doesn't legally mean anything
that someone posted a drawing of it online with a CC license.

~~~
haidrali
so you mean i should change it since its registered trademark

~~~
pavlov
I'm not a lawyer, but think of it this way: if a company makes phones and puts
the Apple logo on them, Apple won't be happy when they find out... Or if the
company manufactures shoes that have the Nike logo, it's considered a
counterfeit product.

For Twitter, their product is software. Like Apple and Nike, they're a big
public corporation. So why take the risk?

------
mod
I think you'll get asked to change it before sued, but either way, it's not
kosher.

You need a new logo.

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maxharris
You definitely need a new logo.

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sexymac
Your method of use breaks the rules of usage.

Don’t:

Use speech bubbles or words around the bird

I would suggest creating a new logo

