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- Copyright at Total Synergy
- Other creators’ copyrights
- Social media and copyright
- Image use and copyright
- Other licenses
Copyright is a bundle of exclusive legal rights that vary depending on the type of work. A copyright owner can grant some or all of those rights to others through a license. This section will lay out our approach to copyrights, trademarks, and Creative Commons licenses.
Copyright at Total Synergy
Copyright law applies to nearly every piece of content we create at Total Synergy, from our website to our blog posts to our technical content. We display proper copyright notice on our website site and any other content we produce.
At minimum, these copyright notices read, “© [YEAR] Total Synergy.”
At the bottom of every page of our website, we also include a longer notice to make it clear that all rights are reserved and our marks are registered: ‘© 2001-2015 All Rights Reserved. Total Synergy® is a registered trademark.’
Other creators’ copyrights
We respect the copyright of other creators. If we want to use someone else’s copyrighted work, we have to obtain a license from the owners.
A copyright license spells out these terms:
- Where we can use the work
- How long we can use it for
- How much we’ll pay them for the use
- Whether or not we’re the only ones who can use the work
- What we can do with the work
- Any restrictions on our use (for example, that we can use it online but not on a billboard)
A common license will read something like this:
‘You grant Total Synergy a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty free license to display, distribute, and publish the Work in our marketing in any medium now known or later developed.’
If you need to get a copyright license for work at Total Synergy or if someone outside of Total Synergy asks to use our copyrighted work, please contact the marketing team.
Social media and copyright
This is an area where the letter of the law and common practice sometimes differ.
Social media posts often include copyrighted elements like pictures, gifs, or pieces of writing. If you’re using a copyrighted element in a commercial manner on social media, you should request permission from the copyright holder. Since Total Synergy is a company, we defer to the position that our use will be perceived as commercial. If you’re using it in a more informative or commentary way, like sharing a meme to indicate how you feel about a news story, you may not need to request permission.
Regardless, you should always link to the source of the copyrighted element you’re using, and never make it look like you created work that belongs to someone else.
Image use and copyright
Total Synergy uses a combination of original and purchased images in our blog posts and on our website. If you use an image, photo, or other design element made by someone outside Total Synergy, get permission first. Once you have permission, always give the copyright owner credit and link back to the original source.
Images retrieved via Google image search are not licensed for fair use, but many images are available under license through stock photo websites, or open for use under a Creative Commons license. Flickr has a great search feature for images available under Creative Commons licenses.
Other licenses
Creative Commons licenses
Instead of the standard ‘all rights reserved’, some creators choose to make their work available for public use with different levels of attribution required. That’s what MailChimp has done with the original of this style guide. Find a breakdown of licenses on the Creative Commons website.
Trademarks
A trademark, often called a mark, can be a word, name, sign, design, or a combination of those. It’s used to identify the provider of a particular product or service. They’re usually words and images, but in some cases, they can even be a colour.
To be protectable, a trademark needs a distinctive element. There’s a ‘spectrum of distinctiveness’ that spans from inherently protectable marks to ones that require additional proof to ones that may never be protected.
- Fanciful marks, which are made up words like Kodak or Xerox, are the most easily registered and protected.
- Arbitrary marks, which are words which are used out of context like Apple or Sprite, are also easy to protect.
- Suggestive marks, which suggest at some element of the goods or services like Greyhound, follow.
- Descriptive marks, where the word’s dictionary meaning aligns with the goods or services offered, like Mr. Plumber or Lektronic, are not protectable unless they develop a secondary meaning. That means a consumer would immediately associate the mark with only that good or service. This can be hard to prove, so it’s best to avoid descriptive marks when possible.
- Generic terms, or the common name for a product or service, are not protectable.
- We usually classify Total Synergy and Synergy as arbitrary marks.
A trademark is only valid for as long as it indicates the source of that good or service, so we have to be very careful about how our marks are used. We send out cease and desist letters sometimes, because even the friendliest companies have to protect their trademarks. If a trademark is properly protected, it can last forever and may be a company’s most valuable asset.