Re:Instagram insists littergram app is renamed
by Grabbeh on Friday April 29, 2016 @05:04PM
(#11598753)
There's a difference between fair use and taking unfair advantage of a brand owner'S trade mark. Your example would be likely to fall within the nominative use bracket as you're using the term to describe an attribute of the product. On the other hand, using a third party's trade mark with a clear intention of free-riding on their goodwill will be considered to take unfair advantage of that goodwill and be an infringement of trade mark law. Rolex Tractors would be an unlikely example.
But can one consider that infringement? I would assume something like that to fall under a fair use doctrine in most jurisdictions.
Let’s say I invent a set of amazing tires for Audi cars (they only fit on an Audi car), and I sell them for half the price of a set of official Audi tires. I brand these tires as “AmazingTires for Audi”, with a disclaimer that I am not Audi, but a third party.
In this scenario, you’re riding on the goodwill of the brand, and the brand owner might oppose. However logically I would assume something like this not to constitute infringement, as you are not actually damaging the brand (if the product is good) and there is no other way to describe your product without using the Audi brand name.