united-states trademark
Is permission required to say your product is used by an organization
<p>Many companies (especially software companies) put something like &quot;[Our product] is used by [Company 1], [Organization 1], [School 1], [Company 2], and 10,000 more!&quot; on their website.</p>
<p>In US law, is permission from these companies and organizations needed to list their use on the website?  If the makers include a footnote saying, &quot;use of [our product] is not necessarily an endorsement by the company&quot; does that serve in place of permission?</p>
<p>Note: There are similar questions pertaining to the use of logos, which is not what I am asking about.</p>

<p>The name of a company is often also a trademark. A specific brand name is usually a trademark. Using a trademark so as to suggest the approval or endorsement of a product by the trademark owner or the maker of the brand is trademark infringement unless permission has been granted.</p>
<p>A footnote,. if sufficiently prominent, <strong>might</strong> help with this issue. The question would still be, could a reasonable consumer or potential consumer think that the firms whose names are listed have approved of or endorsed the product. If the answer is &quot;yes&quot; that this is trademark infringement (if any of the names are trademarks). If the answer might plausibly be &quot;yes&quot; then a trademark infringement suit is plausible, which,m even if won, is likely to be costly.</p>
<p>Securing permission to use the names would avoid such problems. t might also include permission to use logos. It will probably come with specific wording to be used as a condition of p0ermission.</p>
