copyright website branding
Can i use brand logos on a website template I&#39;m going to be selling?
<p>I'm working on a website template that I intend to sell on a marketplace where people can buy and sell templates (i.e. ThemeForest).</p>

<p>I'd like this template to have a "Featured In" section where I'd like to put some logos from publishers (i.e. NYTimes, TechCrunch).
These wouldn't be actual logos people who would buy my template would keep - they'd be just placeholders.</p>

<p>Is this something I can legally do?</p>

<p>To give you a 100% clear idea, here's an example from Slack.com:
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VG2r9.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VG2r9.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The standard for fair use of trademarks is as follows:</p>

<p>(1) the product or service in question is not readily identifiable without use of the trademark</p>

<p>(2) only so much of the mark as is reasonably necessary to identify the product or service is used</p>

<p>(3) use of the mark does not suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark owner.</p>

<p>I think you might run into a problem with (1). In other words the trademark owner would argue that you could have used fake trademarks to satisfy your product description needs, so you are using their trademark unnecessarily.</p>
