WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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Welcome to the United States, welcome to Los
Angeles,

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and welcome to the world-famous [BLEEP].

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Trademark rights are an interesting thing.

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You may already know about copyright, about
it's been extended in the US and Europe many,

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many times, and always -- strangely enough
-- just before the early Mickey Mouse cartoons

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were about to become public domain. But that's
copyright, not trademarking. Separately to

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those cartoons, the name and basic design
of Mickey Mouse is also trademarked. It's

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something that Disney use to sell... well,
many, many, many things. So even if those

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early cartoons were to go out of copyright,
I couldn't start selling my own Mickey Mouse

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merchandise, the same way I can't just set
up a store called Wal-Mart or start selling

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my own drink called Coca-Cola. The rights
to the names and designs don't have an expiry

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date, as long as they're being used and defended.

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The distinction is about commercial purpose.
Which is why I've blurred the [BLEEP] behind

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me. You already know what it is and what it
looks like, it's one of the most recognisable

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landmarks in America. You can easily find
photos and videos of it all over the web,

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even videos of people climbing it and being
chased off by the police. But am I using it

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for a commercial purpose by making this video
about it? I don't think so, I'm using it nominatively,

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to describe the thing itself, which is legal.
But am I willing to risk it when there are

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lawsuits from the trademark owner and out-of-court
settlements going back decades?

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Now, could I have gotten permission if I'd
made a couple of phone calls? Yeah, maybe,

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but they'd have probably have charged me a
fee and wanted me to sign a lot of paperwork,

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and frankly, I'm on vacation. Am I likely
to get sued if I actually show you it? Probably not.

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But am I absolutely, 100% sure that the
trademark owners wouldn't go after me if I

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showed you one of the most recognisable landmarks
in America? And that I wouldn't have to settle

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out of court or risk the cost of defending
a very expensive lawsuit?

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No. I'm not 100% sure.

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That's the reason that there's just a blur
of pixels behind me.

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I'm out here in LA for another few days. If
any YouTube types want to collaborate on something

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on November 6th or 7th, send me an email,
details are on screen now. I don't have much

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time but it'd be great to do something, so
do get in touch.

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Oh my god, it's bright out here.

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