Re: Cafe Press Items

Posted by BigKev On 2008/5/15 11:07:36

Brian,

There are two things at play here. One is the right to use the script on the website, which is a permission issue that was granted when the website first was started, the second the selling of items (either for profit or non-profit) in which the Packard Script logo is contained.

PAC owns the trademark to Packard Script itself (also the Packard Crest), but not the one for the ?Packard Motor Car Corporation?. The trademark laws say that a trademark holder has to police their own trademark, and if they allow someone to use it without their explicit permission, they are at risk of setting up a legal case against themselves when trying to enforce it later. We have to do the same thing here at the software company I work for. As far as the licensing fee goes, to grant a license and have it binding there has to be some kind of value associated with that, so hence the nominal fee. The folks at PAC were not looking to rake me over the coals; they are just protecting their legal interests. Let's just say if I skipped a morning Starbucks coffee once, then it would cover the licensing free I had to pay.

Basically from my understanding PAC registered the Packard Script to protect it from a vendor that was trying to register it for themselves. If that vendor had be granted the Trademark, then all of the clubs (PAC, PI, etc) would have had to pay licensing fees to that vendor, or they would not have been allowed to use the Script.

So I don't believe that PACs actions here are nefarious in any way. It a sense they are really acting as the custodians of the trademarks, and as such they have to police it.