[VRM]

Ron, the law is not always right, but it is what we have. I've done some research on this, partly because of interest in the Shelby/replica battle, but also for restoration purposes.

Most of those original sponsor stickers did not have any copyright or mark on them (and I have a small collection of originals), and they would have expired by now even if they did. So if I recreate one of those stickers to put on the side of that race car does that constitute infringement? And what if that sticker does not have a current company trademark on it (copyright and trademark are very different things)?

I had a lengthy battle with Kinkos about printing up some replacement stickers for the Garner AIR Corvette that was auctioned this summer. They refused to print them because I did not own the copyrights to the originals, even though the companies no longer exist. They should qualify under educational (history) fair use clause of the laws.

This case with the forum could also be exempt as they are making no profit and they might qualify under the nominative aspect of the law in the same way that reporters do when they use the trademarked name to describe the thing.

It's tricky stuff in some cases - product confusion plays into it, as does profit motive.