Are fictional advertisement considered legal ?

906 votes

Yes-- if they do not lead to public outrage, immorality or are dangerous. Most of the advertisement that you see today are fictional. However, you cannot show if the advertisement can never achieve or is not achievable at all. Please show us the advertisement to provide you with full opinion.

Advocate Dinesh Jotwani LawRato

964 votes

Please be clear more on this,
Any how pretending some one to believe on that thing, activity , person to believe true & with intention to cheat or for profit purpose is illegal....:....

Advocate Hemant Soin LawRato

752 votes

Hi,

Regarding your query, there are a few aspects which need to be understood qua fictional advertisements. The Trademarks Act, 1999 does indeed provide you with nominative fair use of the trademark if it meets three requirements:
"A use is considered to be a permitted nominative fair use, if it meets three requirements, viz.,

(i) the product or service in question must be one not readily identifiable without use of the trademark;

(ii) only so much of the mark or marks may be used as is reasonably necessary to identify the product or service; and

(iii) the user must do nothing that would, in conjunction with the mark, suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark holder.

Essentially, say you are operating a showroom which repairs 'Sony' Products exclusively. Using the trademark in such an instance would be allowed as there was no other way for you to let the public know that you are dealing with such services.

However, here you're saying that a fictional advertisement presenting the brand in positive light- What you may consider to be positive light is entirely different from what the brand intends. The miscommunication on the interpretation is where you could face trouble.

The other aspect - Despite saying that its for entertainment purposes, I'm assuming that you intend on putting these up on youtube. In the situation if your channel becomes a hit or the video goes viral, what you would be doing is profiting directly by the use of the company's trademark which you have not been authorized to do so. This would constitute infringement.


However there are ways depending on the content and how it is presented. Do let me know if you have clarifications.

Advocate Anuj Nair LawRato

633 votes

Hello client hru
I have read Ur query it's not very much clear what u want u want to make a brand in what manner Ur question is not very much clear it need to be more simplified as Ur question is not clear I can not answer it clearly but if I am understanding right then u can but under the protection of copy and trademark act only it will be possible

Advocate Vishwanath Pratap Singh LawRato

536 votes

Sir/Madam, making fictional advertisements and showing some products as right may amount to unfair trade practices. However, you are displaying them for entertainment purposes, but it may lead to claims and damages by some viewers and users of your products.

Advocate Ganesh Singh LawRato