Just a heads-up

As of late, I've noticed an increase in companies who are not fond of MX graphics creators and sellers, as they seem to be cracking down on the use of their brand name and IP, even if they haven’t done so in the past. This is mostly old news since this has always been the case, but more and more seem to grow a dislike toward their brand name being present on graphics (and other products as well). It is of course within their right to do so, but I just wanted to mention it again since a lot of us are still using these brands to decorate our designs with.

Most of you know to avoid brands like KTM and Red Bull, but even the companies that you thought were fine with it are sending out cease & desist notices if they see their logo being used. Usually it starts as a warning and they will urge you to take down the designs that feature their logo on them, but it is inconvenient nonetheless.

In the beginning I was convinced that some of the smaller brands didn’t mind, but as of today, I would avoid anything that has a copyright or IP attached to it. A lot of these companies might favor one business over the other and will send a cease & desist to one, and allow another to continue. This creates a skewed narrative, as people on one end of the aisle will say that they are fine with their logo being used, while others have gotten reprimanded for it.

If you insist on using brand name logos on your design, it would be wise to contact those businesses and ask for permission and build your library of logos that you can use. But, even when permission has been given, you will have to be careful. I’ve heard stories of KTM taking down people’s websites and social media because they thought they were infringing upon their copyright, while that person actually got permission to print certain graphics for a sponsored team by KTM (and this was only because of a single picture on social media). As always, KTM didn’t bother to respond to that person and have their website and social media reinstated. Somewhat unrelated, I have had content on my personal Instagram account deleted by Instagram on request by Pirelli. Why? Because I made the tire letters on my car’s Pirelli tires white… I didn’t advertise anything nor did I use an ‘illegal’ product, and yet, it was removed, purely because Pirelli for some reason didn’t like it. This is the power that these brands have, and there is nothing that you can do about it.

As of this moment, some of our older designs also feature brand logos, so I feel obligated to tell you that these might cause issues for you in the future, and that there is always a risk involved in using those designs. I’ve spoken about this before and I am actively working on recreating these designs with copyright free branding and will roll these out as they get completed.

To make sure you future-proof your business, it would be wise to stop using copyrighted logos on your designs all together unless you know for a fact (and have it in writing), that you are allowed to use that logo (for profit). I am aware that some designs might sell better because of the use of these brands, but in the long run you will feel better knowing that everything you have up for sale is devoid of risk.

PS: the image in this post is a new design that will also be added coming week.