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I am producing a teaching manual for a dental procedure, and will be mentioning a number of manufactured supplies and devices that I use. What sort of acknowlegment and or approval do I need to mention the supplies and include pictures of their equipment in my manual?
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: California Already Tried: I will be marketing the manual and accompaning DVD at first overseas and then bring it to the US.
Hi. I can help you with this question.
If you are using pictures of the equipment you should obtain a license to use the image from the company since they likely own the copyright to that image and possibly a copyright in the design of the product. Using the trade names of the manufacturers is not an issue from a trademark standpoint since your product cannot be confused with theirs.
If I do not include a picture of the equipment, yet mention them in the text, what do I need?
Is there a form for the license or do I obtain that document from the manufacturer?
If you do not use the photo you do not need permission to use the name. However, be careful that you do not state anything negative by which the manufacturer could sue you for defamation. If you want to use the picture, I would contact the manufacturer for a license. They should have something. Make sure that they actually own the copyright to the photo and not an ad agency or photographer. You can ask them and they should know.
No nothing negative at all, I am supporting and reccommending their products. Is there a license form that I need to use if I want to include a picture?
You will need a license granting a right to use the image, the copyright in that image, to reproduce, distribute, etc. You should be able to find an example of this on the internet for a photo license. However, I cannot guarantee the completeness of any agreement that you will find on the internet.
Do you have the ability to provide a license grant document that I could contact the manufactures with? Photo license document?
Unfortunately, that is beyond the scope of the question/capability of the site. The agreement would also need to be specific to your situation so it would require some drafting. For instance, you can find copyright license agreements for photographic works on the internet but some of the provisions will not pertain to your situation (i.e. for display only on a website, or for display only in advertising, etc.) or may not be in your favor. I suggest that you first reach out to the company to see if they would be willing to license the photograph and then you can worry about the contract. If they do not have one that they use (which they might) then you can at that point have an attorney draft a contract or find one that is suitable for your use.