united-states copyright
Can I use a 3rd party logo for personal use?
<p>Are there any legal consequences if I use a copyrighted/trademarked logo for personal use? I am using the logo to make custom bumper stickers for my friend and I to stick on our cars. So the logo will be visible to other drivers behind our cars. It's strictly personal use and we don't want to distribute these stickers for profit to anyone else. I'm assuming this is fine, but I just want to make sure to be on the safe side. </p>

<p>This is copyright violation.</p>

<p>You are not permitted to make copies of the logo unless it is fair use/dealing. One of the factors is if you make a profit but the other facts suggest that this prophesied use isn't fair dealing- in particular it compromises the copyright owners ability to exploit their work by, for example, selling bumper stickers to you and your friend.</p>

<p>Use of a logo may also be a trademark infringement where your use falsely conveys some implicit sponsorship by or affiliation with the company that owns the brand. It is clearly a copyright infringement to duplicate and publicly display your unauthorized copies of their artwork, unless your work is exempt as a parody, or the like. Whether or not you "profit" would go to the question of whether it is also a federal crime, or merely a civil infringement (e.g., $150,000 in damages, plus their attorneys' fees).  However, if the owners don't care, nobody else does either.</p>
