Let's review the FIRST Logo Standards

[Morgan Gillespie]

I guess it is there just in case another group takes the logo and uses it in a clearly mocking manner or just to steal the logo as their own FIRST has the ability to take legal action.
How many times has this been brought up? 6+?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

You know, that's a good point—after all, if you look at various FIRST-sanctioned uses of the logo, they don't always respect their own guidelines, indicating that maybe they don't actually care. That is their right, as owners of the logo, but it could be problematic if they were ever in a position to defend that ownership it in court.

This is why corporate owners of marks defend them rabidly -- if they ever DIDN'T defend them, they might lose them. This is probably why Hormel asked S.P.A.M. to insert the stupid periods in its name. They (probably) didn't care that a small group of high school students called themselves "Spam," but they couldn't officially say yes without abandoning some rights to their mark. Likewise, when the Navy gave 1294 permission to use the Top Gun mark, they asked us to make a change to it so that it wasn't exactly the same as theirs. If you look closely, the team number is added near the nose of the jet -- changing the mark and relieving the Navy of the responsibility of protecting it. (This was an amazingly nice thing of the Navy to do. Good on them.)

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Team 1923's logo refers to the FIRST logo, it is clearly not an infringement on the mark. I hate to sound rude, but the FIRSTWiki globe, is specifically in violation of the mark owner's guidelines on usage. I wonder if anyone at FIRST has noticed and/or cares?

Would the rules that govern the use of the current FIRST logo also apply to the older FIRST logo?

[Steve S.]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Team 1923's logo refers to the FIRST logo, it is clearly not an infringement on the mark. I hate to sound rude, but the FIRSTWiki globe, is specifically in violation of the mark owner's guidelines on usage. I wonder if anyone at FIRST has noticed and/or cares?

Actually because it is the old first logo, they are free to use it any way they want. There is nothing guarding the old logo.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by team1591

Actually because it is the old first logo, they are free to use it any way they want. There is nothing guarding the old logo.

It is still a federally registered trademark. FIRST has not abandoned the mark.

By the way, what is this "new logo" that y'all keep talking about? The FIRST Website still has the geometric symbols-with-the-word on the top left corner of the site. Are you referring to the FRC, FVC, and FLL logos?

[Mark McLeod]

FIRST last changed their logo (the new logo) at the beginning of the 2005 competition season and gradually updated their usage of it on all their released materials over the course of the season.
http://www.usfirst.org/about/news/newlogo2004.htm

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

FIRST last changed their logo (the new logo) at the beginning of the 2005 competition season and gradually updated their usage of it on all their released materials over the course of the season.
http://www.usfirst.org/about/news/newlogo2004.htm

Since 2005 was my rookie season, I've known no other logo. Thanks for the clarification.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Beth Sweet

With the new logo, it's one step further.

The new logo is copyrighted. That means that you may only use it in the versions provided by FIRST. Even stricter than Ken's old, out of date stuff ()

Please be respectful of the copyright guys. It's legal, they went to the extent to get it that way for a reason...

This seems to come up every two or three months...

It is NOT copyrighted. It IS trademarked. In fact, it has been a federally registered trademark since 2001. I'm not sure what the "new logo" is, but I can't find it on the USPTO database. The new FRC version of the logo has not been posted to TESS yet, if FIRST has even filed for registration.

I encourage participants on CD to stop giving instructions on the use of trademarks if you don't really know what you are talking about. The rules are simple, specific and well-understood, but are not usually taught in high school or college. The instructions for use of the FIRST mark are typical of what all companies request. It's pretty much a cut-and-paste of about 10,000 other mark-usage instructions. If you are using the mark on promotional material, shirts, signs, robots, your Website or any other "official" use, I strongly suggest you follow FIRST's guidelines. It's their mark.

If you want to Photoshop it and share it with your friends and post silly pictures to CD, I certainly don't see any harm, and, generally speaking, if you change the mark enough that it has obviously been altered (like using different colors, changing the shapes and altering the text to "TEAM XYZ") I don't think they would even have a legal right to ask you to change it. The world is full of Coke mark parodies that have not been banned (as hard as Coca-Cola has tried). The key thing is that I suggest that GP would require you to only mess with the mark in respectful ways. If you just want to use the word "FIRST" -- go ahead and have fun. US FIRST does not have a trademark on the word "FIRST," just on the complete logo with the geometric symbols.