Use of license gear in photos

On my FB, I see quite a few photographers that take photos with their clients wearing licensed apparel of using it for props. I would think this would be a big no no unless you have a permission from the licensing. I would like to know if anyone knows is it legal to use license gear in photos or as props.

seaninsa wrote in post #15743204
On my FB, I see quite a few photographers that take photos with their clients wearing licensed apparel of using it for props. I would think this would be a big no no unless you have a permission from the licensing. I would like to know if anyone knows is it legal to use license gear in photos or as props.

Short answer, it is really up to the manufacturer that holds the licensing. The safe answer is not to use any licensed products on shoots. Tricky part is even the design of products can be licensed so cloning out a logo is not always good enough.

If its for personal use, selling a print to a client, I dont think one would get much flack for it, but in commercial shoots, better to play it safe.

There is great weight given to whether the secondary commercial use actually "trades" on the mark of the other company.

For instance, if a Mercedes Benz is used as a prop for a line of luxury products, with the automobile's purpose in the photograph being to symbolize "luxury" in support of the secondary product, that would be "trading" on the Mercedes mark.