[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by id10t

The actual logo would be automatically copyrighted either by the original artist or the person who paid the original artist to create it (creator vs. work for hire), though penalties/enforcement can differ if the copyright is actually registered.

Correct - Copyright is automatic. If you created it, it is copyrighted until xx years after your death where xx varies by jurisdiction. If you created it under contract (doesn’t need to be specific), whoever hired you to create whatever work owns it until xx years after you die.

Trademark would be the "doing business in automotive stuff with the name Pelican". Which is why you can have McDonalds Roofing, Inc but face a likely smack-down for McDonalds Hamburgers, or that guy Mike Rowe and his software at the mikerowesoft.com domain that was removed/given to MS due to trademark. Think you must register a trade mark and actively pursue enforcement of violations. Note that in a town not too far from me there is a Pelican Hotel, a Pelican restaurant, Pelican Realty, all sorts of Pelican named things (Cedar Key, Fl - a drinking town with a fishing problem and artist infestation)

Good synopsis. The other thing to mention is that Trademarks don’t need to be registered with the IP office but can be. This is where the R is in a circle. If it registered but in use, you put the TM beside the trade mark. The trademark is specific to the type of thing you are associating it with. The key is that the Trademark must remain in use or it expires whether registered or not.

Note - I spent 10 minutes in the Levin School of Law at UF and that was looking for a bathroom and vending machine. But, with my bend towards Free and Open Software you tend to learn the definition of some of these things and how they work....

You could put the Coke swoosh on a set of running shoes and Coke would probably try to litigate you to death however there is no legal grounds for them to do so. Their branding is associated with soft drinks, not footwear.

If you were trying to use the coke branded footwear to sell soft drinks, that is where things get sticky.