My initial thought is that I can't... I'm talking about NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NLL, MLS, CFL, etc. Can these logos be used on a fan/news site? What about colors?
I think you can use them as long as you state in every page that you use them that those logos are copyright of their respective owners (NBA, NFL, etc.)
Something like that in the footer (NBA logo © NBA). But I think you shouldn't have to put it since it is a fan site, you are not using their logo for commercial purposes (selling t-shirts, or putting their logo on your own products.)
Yeah, not selling products... but certainly (hopefully) making $ off the site. It will be more of a sports news site than a fan site.
I think this is a bit of a gray area. They certainly can not prevent you from using team colors. Logos and such are their properties, but I have not seen much in the way of enforcement from any of the major sports leagues. Not saying it might not happen, just saying logo is is all over the net for all the major sports in ways that are clearly not authorized. I don't think a disclaimer will mean a hill of beans if they decided to go after you. But I suspect if that were to happen it would be a cease and desist type of notification.
I run a few sports sites. I use logos in game threads (where people discuss games in progress), but I probably wouldn't use a team logo as my site logo. There was a Houston Astros site that got in some trouble a few years back (Astrosdaily.com maybe?), but I'm not sure what became of it.
Yeah... I think I may use the logo in a less-intrusive manner that can easily be removed if necessary... thanks for the advice.
You see these used all the time on fan sites but technically without written permission it is not legal. Copyright just means: the right to copy. I was discussing this on a football site with someone. The common perception is that it's okay simply because there seems to be others doing it. Never a safe guide imo. Both copyright and trademark law apply here. It's under copyright that there are statuatory damage minimums irregardless of being asked to remove as a first step or if you're making money off of it. Making money is not relevant with regard to the law. It's just "copying." Only exceptions are: journalism, satire and education but even those are limited and narrowly applied. Maybe your use falls under sports journalism? I am not a lawyer but I mainly design logos and have given talks at design schools and colleges on copyright. I have had two infringement suits myself and won. I just happened to stumble on this thread/forum while on the net and thought I'd register to offer my view. Proceed with caution on anyone's logo. The risk you run into with seeking permission is that once they know of you they know who you are, or know you had access or you just may be denied permission. Same places are easier than others. You never know. And some will appear lax so you will violate in order to have a suit just to collect damages. Hope I helped.
Thanks for the advice. Do you know where I would find out if the site fell under the category of sports jounalism?
I really don't know. I suppose one would start with what the definition of "journalism" means: Definitions of Journalism on the Web: a style of writing for presenting bare facts to describe news events www.iclasses.org/assets/literature/literary_glossary.cfm newspapers and magazines collectively the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one of the media wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn Journalism is a discipline of collecting, verifying, reporting and analyzing information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism Or ask an attorney...that's all I can say.