In most cases, you cannot use another company’s logo on your website without written permission. Logos are protected by trademark law, and often by copyright law at the same time, so displaying one without authorization can trigger a cease-and-desist letter, a takedown notice to your host, or a lawsuit for damages. A few narrow exceptions exist for commentary, comparison, and factual reference, but the everyday uses most site owners have in mind — showcasing clients, signaling partnerships, decorating a page — almost always require consent.
Why the Default Answer Is No
A logo usually carries two overlapping layers of legal protection, and you have to clear both before you use it.
Trademark law protects the logo as a source identifier. The core question in any trademark dispute is whether an unauthorized use is likely to confuse consumers about who stands behind a product, or whether the logo owner sponsored or endorsed it.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Title 15 – 1125 False Designations of Origin Federal registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office strengthens that protection with a legal presumption of validity and nationwide exclusive rights on the registered goods or services.2United States Patent and Trademark Office. About Trademark Infringement
Copyright can apply on top of that. If a logo contains enough original artistic expression — stylized illustration, custom lettering, distinctive graphic design — copyright attaches automatically when the design is fixed in tangible form. Registration isn’t required for protection to exist, but it is required before the owner can file an infringement lawsuit for a U.S. work, and timely registration opens the door to statutory damages and attorney’s fees.3U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright in General (FAQ) One logo, two independent claims a rights holder can bring.
The Narrow Situations Where You Don’t Need Permission
The law does carve out space for legitimate uses of someone else’s mark. These exceptions are narrower than most site owners assume.
Nominative Fair Use
Nominative fair use lets you refer to another company by name or logo when there is no other practical way to identify what you are talking about. Courts look at three conditions: the product or service isn’t readily identifiable without the mark, you use only as much as reasonably necessary to identify it, and you do nothing suggesting the trademark owner sponsors or endorses you.4Ninth Circuit District and Bankruptcy Courts. 15.26 Defenses – Nominative Fair Use Model Jury Instructions
A repair shop’s site saying “We service Dell and HP laptops” with small, unaltered logos next to the text passes this test comfortably. The same shop placing those same logos in a banner across the top of the page, sized alongside its own branding, starts looking like implied endorsement and fails the third prong.
Fair Use for Commentary or Criticism
Copyright’s fair use doctrine allows reproduction of a protected work for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, with courts weighing four factors including the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on the market.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Title 17 – 107 Limitations on Exclusive Rights Fair Use A blog post critiquing a company’s rebrand and showing the old and new logos side by side has a reasonable fair use argument. Putting a well-known logo on your homepage to look established does not.
Comparative Advertising
The FTC actively encourages comparative advertising that names competitors, provided the comparisons are truthful, non-deceptive, and clearly identified.6Federal Trade Commission. Statement of Policy Regarding Comparative Advertising A legitimate “Our plan vs. Competitor X” page can reference the competitor’s brand, but any logo you display still has to satisfy nominative fair use, and any factual claims have to be accurate. Pairing criticism with a modified or mocked-up version of the competitor’s logo pushes the use into a different, riskier category.
Everyday Website Uses That Trip People Up
Most logo disputes don’t come out of commentary or comparison. They come out of ordinary business situations where the site owner assumed permission wasn’t needed.
Client and “Trusted By” Logo Walls
Displaying logos in an “Our Clients” or “Trusted By” section is one of the most common uses and one of the most common triggers for cease-and-desist letters. Even if you genuinely worked with the company, placing their logo on your site implies an ongoing relationship and endorsement — exactly the kind of confusion about sponsorship or affiliation that trademark law prohibits.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Title 15 – 1125 False Designations of Origin Get written permission before adding anyone’s logo to your site, ideally as a clause in your original service agreement.
Affiliate and Referral Programs
If you’re an affiliate, you likely already have a limited license to display the brand’s logo or badge, but only within the terms of the affiliate agreement. Those terms commonly restrict where and how you display the logo, prohibit modifications, and bar you from bidding on the brand’s name in paid search. Stepping outside them can terminate your affiliate status and create infringement exposure. Separately, if you promote products with an affiliate link, the FTC requires clear disclosure of the financial relationship, and displaying the brand’s logo does not count as that disclosure.7Consumer Advice. FTC’s Endorsement Guides What People Are Asking You need explicit language such as “I earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post.”
“Works With” and Integration Pages
Software companies routinely show logos of platforms they integrate with. This is a gray area. Accurately describing compatibility (“Our app syncs with Salesforce”) with a modestly sized, unaltered logo has a reasonable nominative fair use argument. But many tech companies publish brand guidelines with specific rules on placement, minimum sizes, and required spacing. Violating those guidelines doesn’t automatically create a claim, but it makes the trademark owner much more likely to object. Check the other company’s published brand resources before adding their logo.
Reseller and Review Pages
If you sell a company’s products as an authorized dealer or on a marketplace, you can typically use their logo to describe what you’re selling. The same goes for editorial reviews. The line blurs when the logo starts functioning as part of your own branding, or when the layout implies you’re an official outlet rather than an independent seller or reviewer.
Uses That Almost Never Qualify
Some uses fall outside every exception and require explicit permission:
- Placing a logo alongside your own in a way that suggests partnership, certification, or approval.
- Using a recognizable logo decoratively to make your site look more established.
- Modifying the logo — changing colors, cropping, overlaying text, or altering the design. Modifications can trigger dilution claims for famous marks even when the underlying use might otherwise have been permissible.
- Putting another company’s logo on merchandise or downloadable materials you distribute.
- Incorporating someone else’s mark into your header, favicon, or domain name.
How to Get Permission and Put It in Writing
The process is less formal than most people expect. Larger companies handle these requests routinely.
Start with the company’s website. Many publish a brand guidelines or media resources page with downloadable logo files and usage rules; some run formal trademark licensing programs, and the guidelines will say so. If nothing is published, send your request to the marketing or legal department and be specific: where the logo will appear, at what size, in what context, and for how long.
Verbal permission is worth nothing in a dispute. Get everything in writing, even if it’s just a clear email exchange. A workable logo license should address:
- Scope of use — the exact pages, materials, and channels where you can display the logo.
- Duration — whether the permission is ongoing, tied to a contract term, or revocable at will.
- Modification restrictions — almost every licensor prohibits altering the logo, so plan your design around that.
- Quality standards — the trademark owner has a legal obligation to maintain quality control over how their mark is used, so expect some oversight requirements.
- Termination — what happens to the logo on your site when the relationship ends, with a clear takedown timeline built in.
For client relationships, the cleanest approach is a logo usage clause in your standard service agreement. Asking after the project is finished gives the client every reason to say no.
What Happens If You Use a Logo Without Permission
Most unauthorized use doesn’t start with a lawsuit. It starts with a letter.
The overwhelming majority of logo disputes begin and end with a cease-and-desist letter demanding removal by a specific date. Taking the logo down promptly usually resolves the matter. Ignoring the letter or arguing fair use without a strong factual basis is how these situations escalate.
If the logo qualifies for copyright protection, the owner can bypass you entirely and send a takedown notice to your web host under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Once your host receives a compliant notice, federal law requires them to remove the material expeditiously.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 17 – 512 Limitations on Liability Relating to Material Online You can file a counter-notice, but the logo comes down while the process plays out.
If the dispute reaches court, exposure gets serious. Federal courts are specifically authorized to grant preliminary injunctions in trademark cases, and a successful plaintiff receives a presumption of irreparable harm.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Title 15 – 1116 Injunctive Relief A prevailing trademark plaintiff can recover the defendant’s profits, actual damages, and costs, and the court may increase the award up to three times the actual amount; in counterfeit-mark cases, treble damages and attorney’s fees are mandatory absent extenuating circumstances.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Title 15 – 1117 Recovery for Violation of Rights On the copyright side, if the owner registered in time, they can elect statutory damages between $750 and $30,000 per work, rising to $150,000 per work for willful infringement, or dropping as low as $200 if you can prove you had no reason to believe your use was infringing.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Title 17 – 504 Remedies for Infringement Damages and Profits Because both claims can apply to a single logo, a plaintiff often pursues them together.
What About Old or Abandoned Logos?
A logo doesn’t stay protected forever. Federal law considers a trademark abandoned when the owner has discontinued use with no intent to resume, and three consecutive years of nonuse creates a legal presumption of abandonment.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – 1127 Construction and Definitions
Relying on abandonment is riskier than it sounds. The former owner can rebut the presumption by showing intent to resume. A company that went through bankruptcy may have sold its intellectual property to an entity that is actively enforcing the mark. And even if the trademark is genuinely abandoned, a logo with sufficient artistic originality can still carry copyright protection, which lasts far longer than trademark rights and doesn’t depend on continued commercial use. Confirm both the trademark and copyright status before assuming a defunct logo is free to use.
Don’t Count on Insurance to Bail You Out
Standard commercial general liability policies include “advertising injury” coverage, which sounds like it would apply here. In practice, most current policy forms specifically exclude claims arising from trademark infringement. A narrow exception sometimes exists for copyright, trade dress, or slogan claims tied to your advertising, but the coverage is far more limited than most policyholders realize. Dedicated intellectual property insurance exists at a higher premium, and most small businesses don’t carry it. Getting written permission up front is vastly cheaper than relying on insurance to clean up a dispute after the fact.