Goldieblox settlement with the Beastie Boys? $1MM to charity

(EDIT: Not a Laywer!)

I don’t think it does, but Trademarks are a lot more limited than copyright. Trademark infringement only occurs if there is a likelihood that someone may think you are representing the company. So if you sell a beverage with the coca-cola trademark on it, they can sue you because they can say you were trying to pass it off as coke.

On the other hand, the red and blue swirl on the cover of negativland’s Dispepsi album was not trademark infringement (although the band was worried they were going to be sued at the time) because even though someone could easily associate it with the Pepsi trademark, no reasonable person could think that it was actually a Pepsi product - created or endorsed by the company. (I don’t think the standard is actually “reasonable person” with trademarks, on QI they mentioned it was actually a “moron in a hurry” but that might be British)

Anyway, as long as there is no way someone could think that you are actually representing or being endorsed by the trademark holder trademarks are fair game.