Good point! We used to have a magnet or two on the back of our mini van.... like a smal American flag or a Christmas themed logo. When I would wash the car there was a lot of dirt and crud around the edge and under the magnet. Sometimes the magnets were hard to get off.

 

Yes there is a whole legal process that can be involved. Even though Ma Bell was broken up decades ago they established a company just to keep the Bell trademark enforced. That corporation then helped each of the remaining bell corporations set up their own trademark units. I have given Abe the personal contact for the one person in charge of the logo he wants to use.

Although some of these companies, like Harley-Davidson would go after a mom and pop for using the trademark without paying a licensing fee, some are more understanding. About 10 years ago when I was traveling to a lot of NASCAR races I used my Super Duty to pull a large camper to all the races. During one race weekend I met up with the VP of Bristol Motor Speedway and asked him about permission to have a Bristol decal made up to put on my aero wing. They sold decals at the track, but non as big as I wanted so he asked me to call him back a few weeks after the race and gave me his number. I called him about a month later and he said that he was sure that they would OK it, but asked me about the size and to give him 2 weeks to get it cleared. Just before the two weeks was up I received a large tube in the mail, he had their graphics department make one up and send it to me for free.

 

I have a stencil machine that I'm using to make the stencil for the "Vault Boy" with his thumb up in the air from the Fallout series of games. I'm airbrushing it on the back of my axle. Some of you might know exactly what I'm talking about...why I can't put a picture in here right now is beyond me.

On that note, you can buy the magnetic sheets cut to your size online. I don't remember the sites but I know a few exist. For a nominal fee I'd cut the insignia out on my machine and mail it to you. You can simply spray paint over the magnetic sheet. Sure would be cheaper to go that route than have the sign made up.

PM me if interested.

 

I cut vinyl. I can do up to 13x22" area (not sign size, just single cut portion). Most cutter software is set up to cut from a vector graphics file, Corel Draw! , Adobe Illustrator, and Autocad most commonly importable. The portions to be cut must be composed of a hairline outline continuously joined without even minute breaks or overlaps. Most of the cost of doing cutting from a customer provided file is the labor to go thru the entire drawing, fixing the problem areas, or tracing/ redoing a drawing done in the wrong format such as pixel based image like a .jpg or paint program image or photo.
Typically companies are only concerned about copyrights if you try to use it in a commercial product or use, or try to represent yourself as associated with that company or brand. I highly doubt using it or a one off sign on your truck would concern them as long as you weren't offering telephone services.

 

I designed and cut almost all the graphics on our race cars. Some are directly applied, some like the class letters and numbers are cut and applied to magnetic sheet.

 

You guys have some great info. Thanks and keep the ideas coming.


I did make email contact with the company individual that harleymsn provided and we will see what they have to say.


Bruce