| name | brand-legal-and-licensing |
| description | State the load-bearing brand-IP facts (AI-logo copyright ≠ trademark; documented human authorship; font web-license class OFL/Adobe/Monotype; provider indemnity) and route EVERY client-facing IP / registrability / font-license claim to ravenclaude-core:security-reviewer and counsel. Not legal advice — states facts, never conclusions; recommends a TM clearance search before promising trademarkability. |
Brand Legal & Licensing
The brand-creation engagement runs straight into IP law: who owns an AI-generated logo, whether it can be
trademarked, whether a font can legally ship on the client's site, and whether a resold asset is indemnified.
This skill states the facts and routes every client-facing claim to counsel — it never renders a legal
conclusion.
NOT LEGAL ADVICE. This skill and this plugin state general facts as of a retrieval date; they do not
advise on a specific matter. Every client-facing IP / copyright / trademark / registrability /
font-license / indemnity claim MUST be routed to ravenclaude-core:security-reviewer (and, through it,
qualified counsel) before the brand book or a proposal ASSERTS it. Legal facts carry a retrieval date +
[verify-at-use]; the primary sources live in
../../knowledge/legal-and-licensing-2026.md.
The four facts (state them plainly)
1. AI-logo copyright ≠ trademark
- A purely AI-generated logo is not copyrightable in the US — no human authorship; mere prompting is
insufficient (USCO guidance, 29 Jan 2025).
[verify-at-use]
- BUT it can be trademarked — USPTO evaluates the source-identifier function, not authorship.
- Safeguard: a documented substantial human modification/arrangement can restore copyrightability of
the human-authored contribution. This is why the pipeline has a documented-human-authorship gate — log it
in
../../templates/curation-and-authorship-log.md.
- Recommend a TM clearance search (USPTO) before promising trademarkability, and an IP-assignment
clause transferring rights to the client. Both are counsel's to execute — route to
security-reviewer.
2. Font web-license ≠ desktop license
- OFL / Apache (most Google Fonts): self-host + commercial use OK, no attribution required → preferred.
- Adobe Fonts: forbids self-hosting — embed-code only; the font dies if the Creative Cloud sub lapses.
- Monotype webfonts: pageview-metered — cost scales with traffic.
- Desktop license ≠ web license — buying a desktop font does not license it for a website.
- Gate: a non-self-hostable font is blocked from the token export; record every family's class in
../../templates/font-license-tracker.md.
3. Provider indemnity (for generated imagery)
- Adobe Firefly is the default for client-facing imagery specifically because it offers IP
indemnification — a real risk-reducer when reselling deliverables.
[verify-at-use]
- Some providers (e.g. Grok/xAI) offer no IP indemnity.
- But this plugin does NOT decide the provider — it sets
indemnity_required in the generation brief and
generative-web-media's license gate makes the per-asset call. Logos/wordmarks are the curated
vector, not a Firefly regen; Firefly-default applies to fill/photographic imagery.
4. WCAG is a legal-adjacent constraint
Accessibility (WCAG 2.x AA) is increasingly a legal exposure (ADA/EAA). The color system carries validated
contrast pairs — see logo-and-visual-system-direction and check-brand-a11y.py. Flag accessibility-law
questions to counsel via security-reviewer.
The routing rule (non-negotiable)
Any of the following in a client-facing artifact → route to security-reviewer first:
- "You own the copyright / the IP transfers to you"
- "This is trademarkable" / "This name is available"
- "This font is licensed for your site"
- "This asset is indemnified"
State the underlying fact with its source + date; let counsel convert it into a claim about the
specific matter.
Anti-patterns
- Asserting trademarkability, copyright ownership, or IP transfer without a counsel route.
- Promising a name/mark is "available" without a clearance search.
- Shipping a brand book that reads as legal advice (conclusions, not facts).
- Letting a non-self-hostable font into the token export.
- Restating
generative-web-media's per-asset indemnity decision as this plugin's own.
See also