I recently added a famous football club crest to an app in Play. The icon is a custom made icon which is licences free for commercial use. It closely resembles the official one but on a closer look there are many variations in colour and changes to the overall set out of it. My app got taken down by Google as they received a DMCA from the club. Is this right? Was I wrong to use a custom artwork of the crest?

Hello Mr stuck Not wrong, just in violation of a Trademark. If the artwork required a closer look then it infringed on the owners rights. Ask permission. You may get lucky. Mike

Agree with the above. Always best to ask. That said I use the Celtic crest in an app, never had an issue. 10k push followers for in game notifications. Sometimes you get lucky, you didn't.

Thanks. I thought if it was an image that was constructed to look similar but with alteration from original trademark image then it was ok . the image is here http://www.gettyicons.com/free-icon/101/soccer-team-icon-set/free-manchester-united-icon-png/ If you download full size then compare it to one official website there are lots of changes (will also give you a five min game of spot the difference lol) It states on site its free to use. Thanks

Basically, in the US at least, if a consumer could be confused and think that they are looking at the original item (image, product, logo, whatever), then they'll ask you to take it down. Even if you use different colors, if somebody could mistake it for the original, then they generally won't allow it. Mark

Football is one area, you cannot really mess with, I know of a client who had 92 apps taken down in one go because of this reason and they we are a multi million pound company. Football is the biggest sport in the world, expect lawyers to be waiting in the background somewhere.

Just seen the crest, not sure what you were thinking using Man Utd's badge. Are you a UTD supporter? I am.

Although similar the crest has loads of changes to it. The site also stated its free to use commercially so I stupidly thought it was OK to use it because it was a custom design and not same as the trademark crest. A lesson learned. Yes I am a bit of a united fan, done partial tour through trophy room etc at old Trafford a few years back in the Beckham and Keane era. Awesome stadium. But my true support is for Rangers and done whole Ibrox tour, right out onto the pitch etc.