I know writers rarely if ever have a say concerning the cover art of their novels, but I lucky to have a small press publisher and they're allowing me to have an opinion. On the cover of my upcoming joint I have a painting of a vintage Kodak camera. My publisher thinks that we need to obscure the Kodak logo for legal reasons, but I'm not so sure we have to. Can somebody point me in the right direction as to get some guidance on this? Thanks!
Trust your publisher on this. Nearly everything in this world is patented to either make a few dollars off of when selling it or make a lot of money off of in lawsuits. You either need proper permission from the company to use their name or you need to "obscure" the name. It's all about money these days...
youll need to change it but don't necessarily need to remove it, for example, use a bit of sly photoshop to change the text to Codac and make it yellow on red rather than red on yellow, it still shows the reader the brand but completely gets around the copyright. Japanese anime is infamous for doing this with Wcdonalds the logo for which is the mcdonalds logo upside down. not even any colour or shape changes.
If you've been offered a contract, but you're being given the option of creating your own cover, then enjoy the leeway you're given but defer to the person who is signing your paycheck. I use that MO in every workplace situation I'm in.
Of course, you have the option to contact Kodak and ask for permission to use the logo. But if you don't ask for permission (or get it), your publisher is correct in this case and you could have legal issues. I had a similar experience with a new cover art I had made in case I decide to self publish in the future. I have a Toyota car screaming down the highway in mine, and I didn't realize until I paid the artist that I couldn't use the car with the logo showing. Luckily I was able to get it swapped out for the logo I had created for the book. You can view it here. There's also another aspect to it. If your book is a book about cameras, then I think you may be okay in using logos, but still and as others have said, if your publisher advises against it, takes their advice. Good luck with the cover.
is it your own painting?... if so, just don't make it an obvious kodak... if not, do you have the artist's permission to use/change it?
I agree, just change the photo around a little bit. It doesn't have to be a big change, but switch the K in Kodack to a C. Codack. Simple as that.
