
Ask HN: Improper use of logos - confiscate
While looking around for a SaaS offering for a need, I notice that a lot of companies seem to have logos of &quot;partners&quot; that I am certain they did not get permission for.<p>For instance, a small company I noticed had logos of Dropbox, Evernote, Google, Salesforce, Box, Google Drive, MongoDB, Cisco as their &quot;Ecosystem&quot;.<p>How do I notify the right authorities to let them know about unauthorized usage of logos?
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JacobAldridge
_How do I notify the right authorities to let them know about unauthorized
usage of logos?_

I'll be honest with you - this is not a problem that needs solving, and it's
not a valuable use of your time.

It reminds me of a recent Scott Adams article about who gets most offended by
Donald Trump - and the answer was _other people_. So much frustration and
negative media goes around in circles because of outragists fighting a battle,
not for themselves but on behalf of ... other people they assume exist. Worse
still, this gets in the way of actual causes where real people are impacted
but don't get support or recognition because it's easier to run a "won't
somebody think of the children" type headline.

It's fair to assume that Dropbox etc might have an issue with a small company
using their logo without explicit permission. But do you know that's the case?
With Trademark infringement, there's no 'authority' as such to notify - you'd
need the rights holder to take action to protect their Trademark from being
used in this manner. The fact that there's "a lot of companies" doing it would
indicate to me that it's not important enough for Dropbox etc to worry about.

And if they're not worried about it, don't waste your valuable time and energy
worrying about it on their behalf.

If that doesn't convince you, then here's how to prove me wrong: 1) Approach
these companies - probably their marketing departments first, who will advise
legal. 2) Ask how much they will pay for someone to identify and take down
these unauthorized uses. 3) My guess is they'll spend something close to $0.

The great news is that if you prove me wrong, you'll be able to link to this
comment about what a fool I was. I promise to take it in good humor.

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smarx
If you mentioned what company you're talking about, it might be easier to get
help. Is there a reason you're not doing that?

As JacobAldridge points out, the "authority" in this case is the owner of the
logo being used, so you'll need to find contacts at each company. On the
Dropbox side, you can email brand@dropbox.com in general with questions about
brand use. If the logo use is truly inappropriate, that team can decide
whether to reach out to the startup.

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greenyoda
How do you know they don't have permission to use the logos?

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confiscate
Because they are all from different industries and are unrelated to the small
company's field.

Also in the blog, they have huge blogs posts publicizing big partnerships.
They only have 1 or 2 blog posts with one of big brand name companies.

