Trademark infringement.

I must respectfully disagree with my colleague above. The situation described in the original question is the quintessential case of "reverse passing off," which is actionable under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. In reverse passing off, an infringing seller removes or obliterates another's trademark prior to sale, in order to misrepresent the source of the product, thereby denying the public information on who actually created the product. Reverse passing off falls into two categories,...

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New Trademark registration certificate after buying trademark

The USPTO will issue a new trademark registration certificate in the name of the new owner, for the unexpired part of the registration period, if the new owner: (1) records the appropriate document with the Assignment Services Branch; (2) files a written request that a certificate of registration be issued in the new owner’s name; and (3) pays the required fee. See TMEP 502.03. The request for a new registration certificate must be made by the new owner, someone with legal authority to bind...

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Hi, I trace Van Gogh, Seurat or Monet, onto cloth and embroider them using thread. Can I sell these works?

Your question is essentially whether works created by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90), Georges Seurat (1859-91), and Claude Monet (1840-1926) are in the public domain, and are therefore no longer covered by any intellectual property laws. For the purpose of this question, I will assume that we are talking about U.S. copyright law only. The first two of these are easy. Since Van Gogh and Seurat both died before the Copyright Act of 1891 (when the US first extended copyright protection to foreign...

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I would like to showcase postage stamps in pendants

With all due respect to the prior contributor, the answer to the question may not be all that clear-cut, and may ultimately depend on the judicial circuit in which the matter is discussed. There is no nationwide concurrence on this issue at present. There is precedent in the Ninth Circuit (which includes Arizona, the OP's location) that holds that the creation of new works using pre-existing materials protected by copyright infringes the exclusive right to prepare derivative works provided...

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How can you use this logo leagally?

Based on your description, it would appear that the shirt is using the FOX NEWS Logo in a parodic manner. While parody is a protected form of expression, to the extent that the subject of the parody is protected by intellectual property rights, the parody must fall within the confines of fair use. In contrast to the more widely known doctrine of copyright fair use, however, the "doctrine" of trademark fair use is not a unitary doctrine at all, but an amalgam of statutory and judicially-crafted...

How do I turn someone in who sold me illegal NFL jerseys?

If you find it difficult to get in touch with someone at NFL Properties LLC, you may instead wish to file a report with the Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos (CAPS) by calling 800-TEL-CAPS (800-835-2277). CAPS maintains a website at www.capsinfo.com, but the site does not provide the opportunity to file reports of infringement over the internet. CAPS coordinates the protection and enforcement of names, logos, and trademarks owned or licensed by the four major U.S....

If I put a book plot summary of three lines my my new book is this copyright infringement?

Regardless of whether your own literary work is fiction or non-fiction, the creation of a paragraph that merely summarizes or describes the plot of a movie or any other work covered by copyright would not be considered an infringement of that work. If it were, film and book critics would be sued out of existence! An important caveat, however: the paragraph you create must itself be your own work. In the case of a movie, this is almost certainly going to be the case, since a written...

If I put a movie plot summary in a non-fiction book is that also OK

Regardless of whether your own literary work is fiction or non-fiction, the creation of a paragraph that merely summarizes or describes the plot of a movie or any other work covered by copyright would not be considered an infringement of that work. If it were, film and book critics would be sued out of existence! An important caveat, however: the paragraph you create must itself be your own work. In the case of a movie, this is almost certainly going to be the case, since a written...

I am a small internet business that buys a product, customizes it and then resales them. But now they are stealing my designs

I am not going to address the "theft of ideas" issue, since your actual question appears to be in the last line; namely: the legality of purchasing, customizing, and reselling a product made by a well-known company. If the source of the original product is as famous as you claim, it is more than likely that the source company owns registered trademarks covering the goods that you are purchasing, customizing, and reselling. It also seems likely that you rely on the well-known nature of those...