: The dozen or more stock image companies that I buy from or have bought from STRICTLY forbid using their content for corporate ID/logos, probably because logos are protected by trademark, not

The dozen or more stock image companies that I buy from or have bought from STRICTLY forbid using their content for corporate ID/logos, probably because logos are protected by trademark, not copyright, which requires design entirely owned by the party filing the trademark registration. No content owned by another is allowed. That excludes all stock images, clip art, and fonts not in the public domain.

Also of note is that if you use any content other than your own in your design, you can never own the copyright outright. That will make it difficult register with the copyright office and next to impossible to sue for damages if somebody rips off your design and makes a million bucks on products containing your stolen design instead of you.

And, FYI: using ANY portion of an image owned by someone else is NOT considered fair use if the intent is to profit from the end result.

CAVEAT: iStockphoto is PARTICULARLY strict about their terms of use, especially the logo issue. And because iStock is owned by Getty Images, who prosecutes TOU offenders as a profit-generating business model, it is not a good idea to run afoul of their overbearing rules.

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