Discussion:
What is the name of your state? FL
Some t shirt places on the web make shirts with a logo similar to a real one like the BIC logo for instance, but they change something to make it funny.. It looks very much like the Trademarked logo, but with a different message.. Is this possible without violating the trademark or does it matter since they are altering the original logo? for instance the Bic logo has that little ball-headed guy and says BIC, but the t shirt had the same little guy and said DIC..
Answer:
What is the name of your state? FL
Some t shirt places on the web make shirts with a logo similar to a real one like the BIC logo for instance, but they change something to make it funny.. It looks very much like the Trademarked logo, but with a different message.. Is this possible without violating the trademark or does it matter since they are altering the original logo? for instance the Bic logo has that little ball-headed guy and says BIC, but the t shirt had the same little guy and said DIC.. There are threee possibilities here:
1. They have permission from the trademark holder (unlikely);
2. They don't have permission, but just haven't been caught yet;
3. What they are doing is a parody, and therefore the trademark holder has refrained from suing them since parodys are protected under the First Amendment.
Chances are, some combination of 2 and 3 is the reason they can get away with it. Parodys of trademarks are generally protected under the Frist Amendment and caselaw (I don't have the main case name handy right now, a little searching under "trademark" and "parody" would probably find it for you). The problem with relying on parody, of course, is that it is a defense to an infringement action, not a bar to someone filing an infringement action.