Can brands, logos or artwork appear on screen without permission?

Real life is full of logos, packaging, posters and buildings, and a production that films in the real world will capture them. Our page on production legal and insurance for film and TV lists what appears on screen as one of the clearance questions an insurer looks at closely. This page separates the two bodies of law involved, trademark for brands and copyright for artwork, because they ask different questions and are cleared in different ways.

How on-screen clearance runs, step by step

1. Read the script for brands and art. Flag every named product, real business, logo, artwork and recognizable building. At this stage a problem costs a rewrite of one line.
2. Brief the art department. Set dressing should be cleared, commissioned, or in the public domain. Commissioned pieces need a written agreement giving the production the rights; our page on whether a production owns what its crew creates explains the wording.
3. Log what is in frame on the shoot day. Photograph each set and note logos and art. A location agreement covers the property, but the owner of a painting on the wall does not own its copyright just by owning the canvas (17 U.S.C. 202).
4. Review the cut frame by frame in post. For each item decide: keep, license, blur, replace digitally, or cut. Prominence, duration and how the item is portrayed drive the choice.
5. Review titles, posters, trailers and merchandise separately. These are where a mark is most likely to be used as a source identifier, which is where the 2023 Supreme Court decision bites.
6. Document the decisions. The clearance log, licenses and any written analysis go into the file the E&O underwriter and the distributor review before delivery.

What did the Supreme Court say in Jack Daniel's that matters for film?

The core infringement question is whether a use "is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive," including as to "affiliation, connection, or association" or "origin, sponsorship, or approval" (15 U.S.C. 1125(a)(1)(A)). Section 1114 sets the same standard for registered marks (15 U.S.C. 1114(1)).

For decades, many courts screened claims against expressive works through the Rogers test, which ends the case early unless the mark has no artistic relevance to the work or explicitly misleads about its source or content. In Jack Daniel's Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, No. 22-148 (June 8, 2023), a unanimous Court held that when someone uses a trademark "as a designation of source for the infringer's own goods," Rogers does not apply, and the case turns on ordinary likelihood of confusion. The Court took no position on whether Rogers is right in other settings.

The opinion used a film to draw the line. A filmmaker who uses a well-known luggage brand to say something about a character is in a different position from a luggage maker who copies the logo to sell suitcases. The second use is riskier because it is the one "conveying information (or misinformation) about who is responsible for a product." The opinion also recounted cases where courts applied Rogers, including an Eleventh Circuit decision, the appeals court for Georgia (28 U.S.C. 41), dismissing a suit over a sports artist's depictions of a team's trademarked football uniforms, made to "memorialize" a notable event in football history.

Your own title is a brand too. Our page on whether you can trademark a film or series title explains when a title is protected and how to check it against others.

When does artwork or set dressing need a license?

Copyright gives the owner of a painting, poster, photograph or sculpture the exclusive rights to reproduce it and, for pictorial and sculptural works, to display it publicly, a right the statute extends to "the individual images of a motion picture" (17 U.S.C. 106). Filming a work and releasing the film reproduces and displays it. The questions are whether a license, an exception or fair use covers that.

Background art in a news or documentary setting has long been treated differently. The House Report on section 107, quoting a 1961 report of the Register of Copyrights, lists among uses courts might regard as fair "incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported." Art that a production designer chooses and places for a scripted scene is not fortuitous, so it is normally licensed or replaced. For real-world footage, our page on documentary fair use for clips and photos walks through the four factors.

Section 120(a) says the copyright in a constructed building does not include the right to prevent pictures of it "if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place." It speaks only of the architectural work, the building's design, so a mural or sculpture on the facade is a separate work. Art from long ago may simply be free; our page on when old film footage is in the public domain explains the date rules that apply to art too.

Can you show a brand in a bad light?

Two federal theories come up. The first is confusion: an unflattering portrayal does not usually suggest the brand sponsored it, but a fake ad or product that looks official can. The second is dilution, available only for a famous mark, one "widely recognized by the general consuming public of the United States" (15 U.S.C. 1125(c)). Dilution by tarnishment does not require confusion.

Section 1125(c)(3) excludes three kinds of use from dilution: fair use "other than as a designation of source for the person's own goods or services," including parody, criticism and commentary; every form of "news reporting and news commentary"; and any "noncommercial use of a mark." Jack Daniel's held that the noncommercial exclusion does not protect a parody when the mark is used to designate the source of your own goods. Commentary inside a film is in a different position from a parody label on a product. If a brand objects anyway, our guide to cease and desist letters explains how those letters work.

What changes the answer

• Whether the mark brands your product. Titles, logos, packaging and merchandise invite the full confusion test (Jack Daniel's).
• Implied endorsement. Prominent, lingering, glowing treatment of one brand can suggest a sponsorship deal; section 1125(a)(1)(A) reaches false "sponsorship, or approval."
• Registered or not. Section 1114 protects registered marks, and section 1125(a) reaches unregistered ones; our page on common law, Georgia and federal trademark protection explains the difference.
• Fame. Only famous marks can claim dilution (15 U.S.C. 1125(c)(2)(A)).
• Featured versus fleeting art. A work the camera dwells on is reproduced in full and becomes part of the scene's look; a blurred corner of a frame is a much smaller use.
• Where the art sits. Section 120(a) covers buildings visible from public places, not the artworks on them.
• People wearing the brand. Faces and identities raise publicity and release questions, not trademark ones; our page on personal brand and NIL rights covers that side. Georgia's own rule is covered on our page on whether Georgia protects your name and likeness.
• Photos of real people as props. A framed photo of a recognizable person raises both the photographer's copyright and the subject's rights; our page on who owns a photo of you explains how the two interact.

A worked example

Common mistakes

• Blurring everything by reflex. Blurs cost money and can draw attention; many background products need no action at all.
• Putting a parody logo on merchandise. It is the use the Supreme Court said gets no Rogers shortcut.
• Treating the landlord's permission as an art license. Owning a painting is not owning its copyright.
• Assuming the building exception covers murals and sculptures. Section 120(a) is limited to architectural works.
• Clearing the film but not the marketing. Posters, trailers and thumbnails often feature exactly the frames with brands in them.
• Leaving decisions undocumented. An insurer needs the clearance log, not a recollection; our guide to what goes into a film chain of title file shows what to keep.

What to do this week

1. Run a brand and art pass on the current script and mark each item keep, change or clear.
2. Send the art department a written rule: cleared, commissioned or public domain art only.
3. Put a written assignment in every commission for props, posters and artwork made for the show.
4. Add a "logos and art in frame" line to the daily continuity notes.
5. Book a frame-by-frame clearance review of the cut before lock, plus a separate pass on key art and trailers.
6. Search your title and any merchandise designs against existing marks before you print anything.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need permission for a character to mention a brand by name?

Brand names are not protected by copyright, so the only question is trademark. A passing mention in dialogue is a long way from the source-identifying use in Jack Daniel's, but a mention that implies the brand endorsed the show, or one that disparages a famous mark, deserves a closer look.

Does blurring a logo remove all risk?

It removes the logo, not necessarily the trade dress. A distinctive bottle shape or package design can identify a brand on its own, and Jack Daniel's itself involved a bottle as well as a label.

Can I film a famous building without permission?

For the building's design, yes, if it is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place (17 U.S.C. 120(a)). Filming inside, on private property or featuring artwork on the building raises separate permission questions.

Are fonts in my titles a copyright problem?

The Copyright Office does not register typeface or lettering as such (Circular 33). The font software license is a contract, though, and a license for desktop use may not cover broadcast or distribution.

What if an extra wears a T-shirt with a band or brand logo?

Brief, incidental wardrobe is usually treated like any other background product. A shirt with artwork the camera dwells on is closer to featured art, so it is simpler to dress extras in plain or cleared clothing.

What happens if a brand owner sues?

Trademark and copyright claims are filed in federal court; our page on what happens in an Atlanta federal IP lawsuit walks through the stages. Early documentation of your clearance decisions is the most useful thing you can bring to that conversation.

Zala IP Law advises producers and production companies on script clearance, on-screen brands and artwork, title clearance and the paperwork insurers ask for. If your production has a brand or artwork question, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701 before the shot is locked in.