Hi, would using two light-sabers - blue ("jedi") & orange ("sith"), as well as no people; In a "geeky" logo - would this be copyright infringement? The graphics intended for use do not have any embedded copyright or ownership info.
The logo is almost finished but I need something "geeky" and "cool" to be used along with the text. The copyright infringement is regarding the companies Lucas Arts and Lucas Films.
The logo is for a South African "geek"-oriented website.
Sincerely,
Greywacke.
I agree with Ohiogal that your use of blue and orange light sabers for your logo would probably attract the attention of LucasFilms and Disney. Trying to argue that your use does not infringe, if you receive a cease and desist letter or a complaint, could (would) get extremely costly.
That said, LucasFilm has not won all their light saber battles, and there have been a few. Perhaps the most interesting of the saber-related stories happened in 2010, when LucasFilms sent to a company based in Hong Kong (Wicked Lasers) a cease and desist letter over the company's sale of lasers said by Lucas to resemble too closely the Star Wars sabers.
Wicked Lasers not only made money by selling the cease and desist letter it received, LucasFilms decided that Wicked Laser's "Spyder III" laser was not infringing on their light saber rights afterall. The advertising for the laser, and the laser itself, made no mention of Star Wars or light sabers. There was no indication that Wicked Lasers was attempting to confuse consumers into thinking that LucasFilms was connected in any way with the product and there was no indication that consumers would be or were confused as to the origin of the laser. And trademark law centers on consumer confusion. It would be hard, too, to separate the protectable elements of a laser/light saber from the functional elements common to all lasers/light sabers.
There was no guarantee, in other words, that LucasFilms could have won a trademark-based suit against Wicked Lasers, had they pressed ahead with any legal action (although there was probably a better guarantee that Wicked Lasers would have needed a lot of money to defend against the suit
).
You can have your logo looked at by an IP attorney in your area for a better determination of your risks, but I think it is always smartest to avoid
any risk of a lawsuit whenever possible - and there is definitely a risk when you mess with the rights-protected material of giants like LucasFilms and Disney.
