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Can I claim that a Company is my customer and show their name and logo on my site?
New York
Viewed 29 times.
Posted about 1 month ago in Intellectual Property
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In am setting up a web-based application. Can I show a "Our Customers" section displaying names and logos of the Companies whose employees (identified by the fact they sign up with their Companies' emails) are using my online software?
In other words, can I claim that a Company is my customer and show their logo on my site if one of their employees signs up for my service using the company's email address? Shall I say something in the Terms of Use or Privacy policy? (e.g., if you sign up with your company email you hereby authorize me to display your logo...). Thanks and best wishes.
Additional information
In light of the answers from Pamela and Steven (thank you!), I wonder whether saying "People from these Companies are using our Service" (showing the logo and Company name) would make things different. In this case I would be stating a fact: a person working for that company is using my web-based application and I must have the right to mention this. Thanks. Answers (2)
Pamela Koslyn
This attorney is licensed in California.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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Your mention of a company's trademark to identify them as a customer isn't the kind the use the trademark laws are designed to prevent, because you're not a competitor of the company and not using the mark as a trademark.
But I don't think it's accurate to represent that a company is your customer when it's the employee (who probably doesn't have the authority to act for the company or to authorize the use of the company's logo) who's really your customer. Just because they use their company's email to sign up for your product/service doesn't make the company your customer. You can identify the employee as an employee of the company without violating the trademark law, but you're going to want to get the employee's consent, especially if you use their full name and title at the company. Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship. 
Steven L. O'Donnell
This attorney is licensed in Pennsylvania.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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In addition, even if the company was your customer, they might not care for you using their name/logo in the manner you want. Whether or not they would have an action under trademark or some other theory is probably not going to be as big an issue as them simply dropping their relationship with you. I would request permission before using their name/logo just to keep everyone happy.
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