Trademark Logos in Video to be sold for profit

[mboyle83]

Hello,

The past couple years I have been working for an artists gallery and documenting the time via video. What we have done is taken this mass amount of video which ranges from the artists work, and practical jokes played on another. We do plan on selling this video for profit and expect to sell it online and have national interest and possibly international interest.

Every person in the video has given us written consent to use, their image and actions to what ever we wish to use it for.

Currently our main concern is, we have many logos and brand names on video. For instance a soda machine in the front lobby, brand name clothing vividly labeled, movie posters, random products the clearly display their brand name, and so on.

Do we need to blur out everything that we don't have consent to use, like an employee holding a popular fast food chain container clearly displaying the logo, products placed in the gallery for distrobution, products used by the artist?

I've been scouring the internet for any type of information and having difficulties with that. Any type of response would be much appreciated even if it's a link to legal documentation explaining the situation.

Thank you very much for your time.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

From my knowledge and experience, you would not have to blur out the marks of every item in your video. There are instances that give caution - I think there was an enthusiasts video that was supposedly served with a cease and desist by Ford regarding their trucks. There was a hint of an issue only in the sense that the trademark was important and used intentionally, regardless of the issue of likelihood of confusion of the mark with the manufacturer of the goods, etc. Here, as an incidental part of the environment, I'm unaware of any serious legal challenge to your selling your video and need to remunerate every vendor of product in your soda machine. Note that this is just an "off the cuff" thought without knowing the specific details and facts in your case. What in particular has you so concerned?