Logo Fair Use: how to use brand logos legally

When you can use a company logo without permission (nominative fair use), what counts as misuse, and how the licenses on Coloracci Brands downloads work. Not legal advice — when in doubt, read the brand's own guidelines or ask the owner.

Generally fine

• Editorial use — Illustrating an article, review, comparison or tutorial that talks about the brand.
• Compatibility badges — “Works with Slack”, “Available on the App Store”, “Pay with Visa” — stating a true fact about your product.
• Presentations & research — Decks, case studies and reports that reference the brand's identity.
• Accurate color reproduction — Using the official hex values so the brand looks right in your design.

Needs permission

• Implying endorsement — Placing a logo so it looks like the brand sponsors, partners with or approves you.
• Your own branding — Using a logo (or something confusingly similar) as your logo, app icon, product name or domain.
• Merchandise — T-shirts, stickers, prints or anything you sell that carries the mark.
• Alteration — Recoloring, distorting, cropping, animating or merging a logo with other marks.

The three questions to ask

1. Am I talking about the brand, or borrowing its reputation? Referring to a brand is nominative fair use; riding on its goodwill is infringement.
2. Could a reasonable person think the brand endorses me? Size, placement and wording matter.
3. Did I change the mark? Any alteration removes you from safe ground.

How the licenses on Coloracci downloads work

Each logo tile shows the copyright status of the file — public domain, CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA or official brand assets — with a link to the source. Every logo remains a trademark of its owner regardless of the file license. CC BY / CC BY-SA files additionally require crediting the author named on the tile.

FAQ

Do I need permission to show a company's logo?

Not for nominative (referential) use — mentioning or illustrating the brand itself in articles, reviews, comparisons or integration badges, as long as you don't imply endorsement or alter the mark. Commercial uses that trade on the brand (merchandise, your own branding, advertising that suggests partnership) need a license from the owner.

Why are so many logos listed as public domain?

Copyright protects creative expression, and most corporate logos are simple geometric shapes or plain typography that fall below the threshold of originality. That makes the file public domain — but trademark law still protects the mark against confusing or misleading use, which is why every page carries the trademark notice.

What does CC0 mean for the simple-icons files?

The simple-icons project releases its icon drawings under CC0 1.0, waiving copyright in the drawing. The brand itself remains a trademark of its owner; the icons are meant for referential use such as social links and integration lists.

Can I change the logo color?

Only when the brand allows it. Brand guidelines typically permit a monochrome icon in black, white or the brand color — those are the only colorways Coloracci offers, and only for single-color icons. Full-color logos are never recolored.

Can I use the PNG on a dark background?

Yes. Choose the dark preview on a logo tile to see the variant drawn for dark backgrounds, then export a PNG with a transparent or dark background. The proportions are never altered — we only add the background.

Browse brand logos & colors · Trademark policy & takedown · Terms of Service