FreeSVG community discussion forum

we definitely need to review that list.

It appears the shape of a car can not be trademarked. General Court: car shape found not registrable (decision of 25 November 2015, case T-629/14)

Using the name and model as a description should not be a problem either (IANAL) as you don't claim ownership of it. Trademark law only limits the ways you use it. As FreeSVG don't make cars it's not a problem.

I do not agree. There is a reason why all images with trademarks on Shutterstock (that features 230 million images) are for editorial use only. Even images without visible trademark but with identifiable silhouette of a car are for Editorial use only. Probably the only reason none of these car companies ever asked for removal of these images is that they do not have any direct harm from these clip art. Giving people right to do whatever they want with images that feature parts that are somewhere registered as trademarks or protected by copyright law is tricky although I admit it is very likely it will not be challenged by anyone. https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can- … 41105.html

Simple letter/colour/font combinations (such as the Google logo) do not qualify for copyright status. Such simple logos are considered "public domain," meaning that anyone can use them – although the way that people can use a public domain logo would still be limited by trademark law.

I would not like to test this claim in court. Google logo is trademark and to use it you will need permission from Google. To publish it on public domain site and tell users you can use it for whatever you want is just not good idea...https://www.google.com/permissions/logos-trademarks/

Thanks for some very good points regarding copyright from all of you. Here are some of my observations regarding copyright and rules in general.

Thing is that anything that is trademarked cannot be released in public domain by anyone except the owner of a trademark. For example image of Ford car can be trademarked, the design itself, name of the model etc. The other day I deleted Google logo which happened to be in the database. How people upload these files with public domain license I have no idea.

Derived work should be acceptable only if the original work is in public domain.

Avoid use of commercial fonts, even converted to outlines they are still trademarked, there are fonts in public domain available.

As CyanideCupcake pointed out, there is a problem with describing images and making connections to trademarks when in essence similarities are very vague. If you draw a car, why claim it is Ford Mustang when it can be any sports car and if similarities are really difficult to see.

Regarding publishing rules I would like to quote some excerpts from Google Publisher policy:

"We do not allow content that:

- incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.
- harasses, intimidates, or bullies an individual or group of individuals.

- includes graphic sexual text, image, audio, video, or games.
Examples: Sex acts such as genital, anal, and/or oral sex; masturbation; cartoon porn or hentai; graphic nudity

- contains non-consensual sexual themes, whether simulated or real.
Examples: Rape, incest, bestiality, necrophilia, snuff, lolita or teen-themed pornography, underage dating

- may be interpreted as promoting a sexual act in exchange for compensation.
Examples: Prostitution, companionship and escort services, intimate massage, cuddling sites"

These are rules for debate only but in general I do agree with them.

Tags changed, thanks.

What would be the right description? Something like "Vector image of the Yellow kid, an American comic strip character" or something else. I can change it, let me know.

I changed it to bovine. However the original name of the svg is lemming which may explain how the title went wrong. It certainly is not lemming, thanks for locating this image.

Hi Rob,
sorry if it sounded like a critique of your post, I did not mean to disqualify Twitter idea, just wanted to point to difficulties in using Twitter and their not so fine-tuned spam fighting measures. In some way I can understand them because I can only image the amount of spam and fake accounts they get (even this forum is target of spam on daily basis, although it has a tiny fraction of Twitter's traffic). We created the account and tried to use it and were suddenly stopped and asked to use Captcha plus code that they sent on mobile phone. It took us about 5 minutes to continue the post.  I don't know how often this occurs as I am not regular use of Twitter. Hopefully, not so often.