Legality of using a picture of an iPod on the cover of an MP3 audio CD album

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9secondko9secondko
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hello,



I was wondering if any of you can point me in the right direction on this issue.



I serve at a ministry and we offer Bible studies on DVD, CD, MP3, etc. for free with the possibility of someone donating for the resource if they wish.



I am serving in the graphic design area and I am currently working o MP3 album covers (ie: the case wrap for a DVD case, but with an MP3 CD inside) and I want to use a picture of an iPod on the cover with the Bible study showing on the iPod's screen to immediately convey the idea that it will work on an MP3 player (and an iPod is the most widely recognizable MP3 player). Is this okay to do? I hope so, since the result looks very nice, but if not, we would not want to continue in this direction. Can someone please help or point to a resource that explains what to and what not to do? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    9secondko9secondko Posts: 929member
    Anyone?





    I just want to to used a picture of an iPod on the front of a package that contains MP3 encoded sermons. Is this okay?
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  • Reply 2 of 2
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Actually, it's generally not okay to do that if you use the iPod product picture, or modify what is on the iPod screen. Not if you are selling (or giving away) something else instead of the iPod itself, even then, you have to be an authorized reseller of iPods to use iPod product pictures. iPod product pictures for "fair use" or "editorial" purposes are okay but they shouldn't be modified or "blended" with other pictures.



    In the commercial world people get around it by designing an iPod-looking "will play on your iPod" icon or something like that. Or, you could have a picture of someone *using* an iPod as the picture to show you can listen to it on your iPod.



    So my suggestion is make an iPod-looking "icon" graphic and say "will play on your iPod"... You don't have to use an actual iPod picture.



    It's a grey area and I imagine your question is one of morality and legality or some mix between the two.



    Try something that looks like this (make something similar to it or you can purchase the graphic/icon):





    from

    http://www.iconarchive.com/show/comi...ipod-icon.html



    OR





    http://icons-search.com/icons/iPod.aspx



    As you are non-profit I believe this is a reasonable, ethical, legal (Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer though) solution.



    Most importantly you should not have the Apple logo anywhere on the icon or on the graphic/ cover you are creating.



    Hope this helps. To me, I feel the approach I suggested is ethical.
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