Loving the new Steemit logo

Steemit, Inc. unveiled a new logo and user interface design, and I am a fan. The redesign is important and much needed. Steem is both the cryptocurrency and the blockchain, and needs to be distinct from Steemit, the platform. The new look will help with explaining this important difference to non-users and new users, which I said as much in my response to their post. Below I will be discussing the logo and fair use. If you liked this post, please consider sharing, commenting, and upvoting. Thank you in advance. - Josh

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^{Image Credit/Source: GIPHY | License: Fair Use}

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New Logos

^{Image Credit/Source: @steemitblog | License: Fair Use}

^{Image Credit/Source: @steemitblog | License: CC0}

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Copyright, Trademark, and Fair Use

If you read Steemit, Inc.'s update, you'll know that the new logo is copyrighted, whereas Steem's logo is under a Creative Commons 0 license, which means that it is in the public domain and can be reproduced license free and without need to give any credit to its creators. I've noticed a few people posting about what they think that means for them and the future of the platform.

I disagree with @intelliguy's puritanical interpretation of this new development, mainly because I think it does little to actually educate people on what this means for them as bloggers. And I'm sure that there are a few people that are wondering why and how I am able to post the new logo given that it is now protected intellectual property. While I am not a lawyer, and this isn't and shouldn't be considered legal advice, I have written about intellectual property law quite a bit, and so I will briefly explain what I am doing and why I am doing it. You should always do your own research and check with your own laws. And if you're in doubt, ask Steemit, Inc. I have provided a number of links towards the end of the section to aid in your efforts.

Whereas @steemitblog's original post caused some confusion about this development, they've updated the post to clarify that reproduction of the logo is allowed under fair use.

So what is fair use? Intellectual property laws, including fair use doctrine, vary by jurisdiction, as prescribed by the Berne Convention - an international copyright treaty.

Fair use is not theft, i.e., plagarism or infringement, but a legal doctrine contained within U.S. copyright law.

It establishes legal conditions for lawful reproduction of a copyrighted work, and is commonly used by news media and bloggers. Steemit is an American company registered in Virginia, although by the looks of a post last month from @xtraordinarypilot, and @andrewmicmillen's article in Wired, the headquarters has moved to Austin, Texas. As an American citizen using the logo to comment on it and educate my readers, I am confident fair use of the logo applies in my case. My case is bolstered by providing proper credit to the image's creator, along with a link to the original source. If I were attempting to pass off the logo as my own work, I would be in clear violation of copyright law.

Here are a few different articles that explain this concept better than I can. I've also listed several articles discussing the state of fair use around the world:

^{"17 U.S. Code § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use." LII / Legal Information Institute. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107.}

^{"Article 10." BERNE CONVENTION, AS REVISED - Article 10. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/10.html.}

^{"Creative Commons." Wikipedia. October 24, 2017. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons?oldformat=true.}

^{"CUL - Main Content." Fair Use | Columbia University Libraries. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use.html.}

^{"Fair use (U.S. trademark law)." Wikipedia. September 13, 2017. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use_(U.S._trademark_law)?oldformat=true.}

^{"Fair Use, Free Speech & Intellectual Property." Center for Media and Social Impact. Accessed November 01, 2017. http://cmsimpact.org/program/fair-use/.}

^{"Home." Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center. July 02, 2013. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://fairuse.stanford.edu/.}

^{"Nominative use." Wikipedia. June 09, 2017. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_use?oldformat=true.}

^{"Rogers v. Grimaldi." Wikipedia. October 25, 2017. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_v._Grimaldi?oldformat=true.}

^{"Using the Trademarks of Others." Digital Media Law Project. Accessed November 01, 2017. http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/using-trademarks-others.}

^{"World Intellectual Property Organization." Wikipedia. October 28, 2017. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Intellectual_Property_Organization?oldformat=true.}

^{Chmielewski, Tom. "Fair Use of Logos." Chron.com. Accessed November 01, 2017. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/fair-use-logos-2152.html.}

^{Grifoni-Waterman, Raoul. "International Fair Use Developments: Is Fair Use Going Global?" Authors Alliance. February 26, 2016. Accessed November 01, 2017. http://www.authorsalliance.org/2016/02/25/international-fair-use-developments-is-fair-use-going-global/.}

^{Sutton, Maira. "The Murky Waters of International Copyright Law." Electronic Frontier Foundation. February 25, 2016. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/02/murky-waters-international-copyright-law.}

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Twitter exit-strategy

I started playing around with Zappl, which you can see here:

• My first Zap
• Zapping from my phone

Both posts detail some brief 240 character observations about using the platform. It still has a ways to go, but I've enjoyed trying it out so far. As I alluded to in this comment, adding the ability to post GIFs would be amazing.

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PassageX

One more thing, I've started helping out with the PassageX team. If you're in Lisbon for @steemfest, make sure to say hello to @alexlinebrink and @transientheart while you're there!

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Thank you for reading,

- Josh

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^{Josh Peterson is a 2016 Robert Novak Journalism Program Fellow and a writer living in Denver, CO. Follow Josh on Steemit and Twitter. Keybase for secure chat. PGP Fingerprint: 4507 3000 1A40 2691 DAB8 ED65 A3EA 3629 73FD B7FF. $BTC: 14LE7Jv4NZXgtWq876RUdSUVKfZs7rcnzf}

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Related Posts by Josh Peterson

• ^{"Rethinking Artificial Intelligence." Steemit. October 22, 2017. Accessed October 24, 2017. https://steemit.com/artificial-intelligence/@joshpeterson/rethinking-artificial-intelligence}
• ^{"This will begin to make things right." Steemit. October 22, 2017. Accessed October 22, 2017. https://steemit.com/writing/@joshpeterson/this-will-begin-to-make-things-right.}
• ^{"Will Robots Want to Vote?" Steemit. October 19, 2017. Accessed October 22, 2017. https://steemit.com/artificial-intelligence/@joshpeterson/will-robots-want-to-vote.}

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