Parody generally is protected as nominative fair use, provided the use is not misleading. Reviews, commentaries, and parodies are usually nominative fair use. Parody might not be fair use, however, if it creates a likelihood of confusion as to the source of a product or service. In Jack Daniel’s Properties v. VIP Products , the
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Nominative fair use, in trademark law, refers to the use of another person’s trademark solely for the purpose of referring to the products or services marketed under the trademark, not as an identifier of the source of one’s own products or services. Using another company’s trademark in this way is not likely to confuse consumers
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Descriptive fair use means the use of a word or phrase to describe a product or service, not as a source identifier. For example, a seller of pillows might use the word “soft” to describe them even if someone else is using SOFT as a trademark for pillows. Saying, “Our company’s pillows are soft” would
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Fair use is a potential defense to trademark infringement in some cases. It does not have the same meaning, and it is not assessed in the same way as copyright fair use . The two kinds of trademark fair use are (a) descriptive fair use and (b) nominative fair use. Parody is usually fair use.
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Reverse engineering for the purpose of achieving interoperability of systems is often protected as fair use or by the DMCA. Also, discovering a trade secret by fair and honest means does not violate trade secret law. If reverse engineering is accomplished through the use of theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of
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Yes. Copyright infringement is actionable whether the unauthorized use is for profit or not. The absence of a profit may help support a “fair use” defense in some cases, but it is just one of several factors that courts weigh. Even nonprofit use of a copyrighted work without the owner’s permission can result in liability
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