Copyright Shield Designs ?

[Paullus Scipio]

Hi Robert !

Well, David put it like I had in mind, with the shiueld as the recognised trademark of a group: ..........................

But if the shield design was used as a group trademark, that would (like David says) be a different matter.

That was the very point I was trying to make ( and evidently failing, judging by the other posts ! )

Copyright, Trade marks, and Patents are not the same thing at all, nor even similar !
Trade marks and Patents have complex laws governing them which vary from country to country, but broadly speaking, Patents cover inventions and need be considered no further, and Trade Marks are of a commercial nature, used to identify a commercial product, must be registered in a given country, and have complex rules of distinctiveness/uniqueness that would rule out registering a known Trajan's column design, or even any recognisable variation of one ( though a Trade Mark might incorporate a shield design as part of the Mark....too complex!)

Registering Patents and Trade Marks is an expensive process and must be handled by professional experts, and even looking at the brief points above, one must see that David's suggestion is just not feasible.

I'll re-iterate, even ignoring the distasteful moral and ethical difficulties of trying to "own" some part the past, neither Copyright, Trade Marks nor Patents offer a practical, or even any solution to Madoc's problem........


edit: I started my response before Arklore's response, but I would endorse everything he says....so that makes four lawyers views, having said which all posts by me are subject to the disclaimer I set out above.....get specific legal advice for the particular situation of your legal dispute.....