You're on the right track here....kayt00 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:23 amI get the "for profit" thing. But many artists and craftsman have put together themed whataburger works. Id bet the contents of my safe (empty because of a horrible boating accident) that some of those were sold for profit and yet WaB didnt bat an eye.
But in the world of copyright, trademark,"letter of the law" and profit VS reward thing.... It gets a bit more muddled.
First a little bit of my personal info....
I manufacture and sell several different firearm related items such as grips, magazine base plates, AR-15 magwell stickers, etc, etc... Almost half of my business is custom work....
On a weekly basis, I get requests to custom engrave logo's such as Star Wars, Disney, and lots of firearm manufacture logo's (Colt, S&W, etc, etc.) I have to refuse all of those requests as I am a "for profit business" and I do not have permission from those companies to use their trademarked logo's.... However.. If a friend of mine wants said logo, and I'm not going to charge him for it then I don't have any issue with engraving one...
Years back, we were allowed to use the U.S Armed forces logo's.... But that was changed and now I can't use the Marine, Air Force logo's without express permission.... I've even received a desist letter from the U.S.M.C before the law became widely known.... So now I won't touch one....
Now.... The profit VS reward thing....
There are thousands of us little guys out there throwing out a few copyright violations each year.. Whether we may know it our not.... The problem is at what point does a company decide if it's worth spending the money on pursuing legal action.... As you stated in your post, if you go out and build your own not for profit, then they are probably not going to even give you a second look.... While technically your still skirting with the "letter of the law" on trademark issues, it's just not worth their time or $$ to jump on an individual.... And sometimes depending on what you are using their logo for it's actually free advertising for them..... But as we all know, when you get into the political minefield of firearms that changes pretty quick.....
So, it brings us to the current situation...
Here is a business who has "without permission" manufactured AND posted in a public area their work.. Both a blatant violation of trademark laws and a contentious political item.... It made the news... This is bad press (well, some see it that way).... So I can understand their issue with this... I don't have to agree with it, but I do understand it...