So I’ve finished shaping board #1 and am waiting for my slightly unreliable artist friend to get around and do some magic on the bottom. As for the top I was thinking of a logo. Is it weird to have a logo for your own boards if you are not really considering making it a business? Also is there a list somewhere of “unregistered” logos or trade names, aside obviously from the copyrighted ones that pretty much everybody already knows of. For instance if I wanted to call my board Fishbone Shapes, can I find out if I am stepping on someone else’s toes?
Kim,
I have a logo, and I’m not a production shaper. You can apply for a copywright to see if anyone else has the name. If not, it’s yours. I did it with the art work for my logo.
You can design something for yourself then have a graphics company run you off some rice paper logos to laminate into your boards.
Have fun being creative.
Doug
Kim,
general rule is if you are not profiting or distributing something in order to someday make a profit no one really seems to care. If you are concered check your copywrite archives, but if its not there have fun with it. As i see it, the wrost thing that will happen is some long time shaper will meet you on the beach and say “hey man my logo looks like that too…small world…you have good taste” (or matbe “hey man, thats my logo…next time dont use it”).
hi Kim-dude,
I think it’s great putting your own logo on your boards.
It makes them look cool and it’s even cooler when surfers
ask you which brand the board is or where in the world you got it because they have never heard the name “FISHBONE” ( or whatever you choose).
anyway,
be aware to the ink used in the printer.
you need ink which containes some kind of UV protection.
go to the archives, there was a post about which printers ( brands and models) use UV inks.
Found it for ya…
Thanks for all the input. Fishbone is just a working concept at the moment. Mostly cause it has a built in graphic to use, I like the band and I’m pretty much stumped for anything else at the moment. Somehow Surfboards by Kim just doesn’t sound that great, especially since I’m a guy stick with a girl’s name.
I had an idea for a logo and did an Internet search. Found something close to what I liked, copied it, altered it, and it became my logo. I build them strictly for myself and friends. I did a fin repair for an artist friend. He ‘paid’ me by taking my idea and making it lood professional. It’s his art as far as I’m concerned and my logo. It’s a Rooster Fish in black and white. A logo will help with the resell of your boards I think. Before I had a logo I built a board for a friend and he asked me for a logo because he used it to locate his chest on the board. Didn’t have on. That when I started working on it. I say do it and don’t worry about legalities unless your starting a business. Mike
Kim:
Don’t get caught into the trap of using
some one’s name just because it sounds
cool. Search out your own logo, you might
find a gem amid all the sh!+. I got tired of
people asking me who made the boards I and
my friends rode when they had no logo. I
decided to bite the bullet and spend the money
for a pro to design what I wanted and it has
helped me to create boards that survive into
the used boards market. Do a google for
“logo design” and you should find sites that
designers use to market their skills and maybe
get some ideas in the process. In the mean time,
here is one site:
http://www.logodesign.com/forum/
pm me if you need more info on inks, how to
print, etc. as I have spent some time and money
as a backyarder in working all this stuff out.
BKB
Quote:
Thanks for all the input. Fishbone is just a working concept at the moment. Mostly cause it has a built in graphic to use, I like the band and I’m pretty much stumped for anything else at the moment. Somehow Surfboards by Kim just doesn’t sound that great, especially since I’m a guy stick with a girl’s name.
stuck with girl’s name… now I understand your nickname- kim-DUDE
In Israel, “LEE” is mostly a girl’s name! so what? I don’t care.
when people tell me I’ve got a girl’s name I tell them that there r one bilion
men called “LEE”… just go to china.
you can call your boards “kimboard”… it sounds like “skimboard” and it got good flow…
Kim_dude,
I wouldn’t be too worried. 10 years ago, I spent all kinds of time and money getting word
marked and my logo copyrighted. In spite of doing everything “right” 4 years ago a shaper
in our area started, and continues, to bite our logo design. He has had warnings from us and
he just BS’s while we’ve been told by our lawyers he is likely making an infraction. We just
keep totalling it all up. The cost of challenging is high and when we win in court, do you
think the sheister is going to pay us anything? No, he’ll be in business under another name
biting another shaper’s logo like he has done for over 20 years. Pathetic.
We also found a Japanese company is using our name for clothing, after they saw our
website. Again, it is illegal and we would most likely win in an international court, but the
costs of doing so, are prohibitive.
In the big corporate world, things are totally different. Just look at how Ford is going after
all the small parts makers across the nation- just totally smashing them with a team of 200
lawyers. But…
…for the surf “industry” even if you claim your name and logo, my lesson has been it doesn’t
mean shit. Just do it and if someone doesn’t like what you do, just BS them like the local guy
here has done to us. Then if you feel bad about it, change it to something else.
Then again, I am a firm believer that the Great Wheel of Karma will eventually find all these
parasitic vermin and roll them flat into oblivion only to be forgotten for all eternity…
(I’m not too bitter, am I?)
Just found this website with a library of surfboard logos.
Kim, I’m in Virginia Beach as well. I have tons of rice paper if you want to come over and print something out.
Follow up question. My artist friend wants to use some rice paper images as part of his art on my board. Can it be done under the lam coat or will I have problems with delam? Should be large pieces but may be quite a few of them.
Think I settled on Atomic Tiki Surfboards, although by brother-in-law was pushing for Cojones.
Do it under the glass
Check this short video, I’m using epoxy so there’s heaps of time to get it right
Thanks mate. If I’m not gonna glass right away can the rice paper be adhered using any other adhesive? My friend wants ot do te board a this studio and it will be glassed here at my house.
Also, do you have pics of that board finished? I like the use of the glitter.
My name is Raymond,
Most people call me Ray. Need a joke, rhyme it with ray…
People have been calling me Stingray for years…The Corvette ,the speed boat , the bike…
So I made a Stingray Logo…I logged on to Swaylocks as Stingray…
Now I’m STINGRAY…
I’m known all around the world as STINGRAY…I get e-mails from all over…Auz to Europe…
Is it legal??? I don’t now…Just takes one bastard to take it to court and all the fun ends…
I use rice paper for my logos. Tape it to a normal piece of paper and print it with my home computer set up.
OK, we’re going to court, Mister…
hey Kim-Dude
on your question as to putting the logo on, then glassing later…
On epoxy I’ve smeared just a bit of resin on the foam, laid down the logo, squeegeed and brushed it out really smooth, let it dry… the laid down the glass over the whole thing. seemed to work just fine.